Element of Freedom
by Speed the Hedgehog
Summary: Speed thought it was going to be another normal, fast paced day in Mobius. The universe had other plans. Now join Speed as he travels to save a world from impending doom and me make new friends and enimies and discover a secret about his past that could change who he is forever.
1. Chapter 1

**Element of Freedom **

**Prologue**

It was a peaceful day on Mobius. The birds were chirping, the trees were swaying, and the citizens were mingling. All was peaceful and happy… at least until a green and blue blur aped through the city at high speeds. As we follow these two, we see Sonic the hedgehog the blue hero of Mobius famous for his extreme speed. Next to him we see a hedgehog that looks similar to Shadow only with no highlights. He was dark green and wore black and white shoes. He also wore a black jacket and dark blue jeans. This was Speed, not much was known about him except for his manipulation of wind. He was the only person Sonic knew that could match his speed, abilities, and power.

"So Speed, what do plan on doing today?" Sonic asked. "Nothing much," he replied "besides looking for more clues to my past. I found a clue that might help me, so I heading to an ancient ruin to check it out, want to tag along?"

"Nah, I'm good. I planned on hanging out with Tails today so we could watch a movie." Sonic said. "Alright, see ya later then." And with that Sonic sped off into the distance.

"Now, to find those ruins." And ran off to find these ancient ruins.

We now see Speed at an entrance to a dark cave. He pulls out a green emerald. This is not a chaos emerald. This emerald enhances his control over wind so he dubbed it the wind emerald. The weird thing is this emerald never left his side. As in no matter what he did, emerald would somehow end up in his spines. Using this emerald he lights up a small part of the cave. It shows some hieroglyphs and other weird markings. He smirked because he found the ruins._ If they're ruins, why are they in a cave?_ Speedshrugged it off and continued. He understood hieroglyphs well but these seemed off. They showed 6 equine figures glowing with sort of aura. On other walls it show another one but more menacing looking. The figure had a horn and wings and slits in its eyes. Further down he saw one with mismatched body parts. There were two figures. One looked like a bug with torn wings and a horn. The last one had on armor and seemed to control crystals. Then he saw something that disturbed him. It showed… him and the six he saw earlier. They seemed to wear some sort of jewelry around their neck. One of them had crown on. He had a weird bracelet on his wrist.

"What does all of this mean?" Speed asked to no one in particular. _It is your destiny._ Speed nearly jumped and bonked his head on the ceiling. No one was there but he sure he heard a voice. _You heard me? Good so it worked!_ Speed was getting scared now. "Who's there? Show yourself!" he shouted as he prepared to fight._ Be at ease. I just wanted to talk._ He lowered his guard but not buy much_. I need your help Speed._ He was surprised at how this voice knew his name. _My world is about to face grave danger and it needs your help._ "Mind telling who you are?" he asked. _You will know soon enough but right now listen. An ancient evil is about to rise in our world. One that has been gone for 1000 years. Will you help us?_ Speed was uncertain. He knew it could easily be a trap, but if this thing was telling the truth an entire world could be in danger. "Alright how do I help?" he asked. He wasn't sure but he thought he heard a breath of relief._ Thank you. All you need to do is walk over the last image. When you get there find yourself. Focus your spirit into the picture then-oh no. I've been detected! When you get there focus your spirit you should what to do next. Good luck and Godspeed._ "Wait!" he shouted but the voice answered no more. He walked over to the picture and placed his hand on it. He instantly felt some sort of connection. He put his power into the wall. When he finished the wall began to glow. "Now what?" he asked. _Use …os …..rol! …os …r!._ He heard the voice get cut off but he got the message. "Chaos Control!" and with that he vanished.

**Hello everyone. This is my first story so I ask that you review and give me pointers. You can be mean, just not too mean ok.**

**Anyway thanks for reading. This is Speed the hedgehog signing off!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Element of Freedom**

**Chapter 1: Not So Friendly Beginnings **

"You know, even though I can control wind and all… I STILL HATE FALLINGGGGGGGGG!"

This is what was going through Speed's mind as he was tossed between spaces. As he was going through the never ending vortex of the universe he caught glimpses of different dimensions. One dimension had human throwing what seemed to be red and white capsules that would release odd looking monsters. Another had two kids; one had a triangular shaped head and another with a fire hydrant shaped head. Then there was one with a peach colored skin and brown spiked hair and wielded a key shaped weapon.

"How long is this going to last?!" he asked. As if the universe was listening there was bright flash, causing him to cover his eyes. When he opened them all he saw was blue and white.

"Wait blue and white? Does that mean I'm – AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he said as he fell towards the ground. While falling he observed his surroundings. He saw a little village bellow him with a huge tree in the middle. He also saw a weird stone structure that looked like a ruined castle. Between the two there was a big green forest. Seeing as how those were the only landmarks around he looked to see where he was landing. It seemed to be a cottage of some sorts.

"Uh-oh, someone might live there. Got to move so I don't crash there." and using his wind powers, which were diminished on the trip, and propelled himself away from the cottage.

"This. Is going. To hurt. A LOT." he stated.

BOOM!

When the dust cleared we see him stuck out of the ground like a tree. _I knew Sonic would rub off on me someday. _Speed thought as he started to black out.

When he came to he was still in the same spot. Seeing as how he had no idea what to do next, he was going to go to the village. But as he started to walk he heard rustling behind him. So he created a gust to see who it was. What he saw next kind of shocked him. It was a horse with wings. It had butter colored skin with pink hair. Its big green eyes stared at him in shock, fear, and wonder, but mostly fear.

"Hello?" he called.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPP!" it yelled. It was so ear piercing, Speed almost collapsed on the spot. It ran into the forest behind it. _Not the FRIENDLIEST greeting. At least its not in trouble. _he thought.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!"

_Me and my big thoughts._ And with that he sped into the forest. When he finally found the pony (he dubbed it that because seeing as how it could scream it must be intelligent and might get offended) it was surrounded by what seemed like 3 wooden wolves. They started to close in on it. Thinking fast he curled up into a ball and sliced through one of them causing it to collapse into wood. Then he turned around to see its allies glaring at him seeking to avenge their fallen comrade. One of them lunged at him, claws extended. He jumped over it and performed a homing attack on its snout. It bust in pieces of wood leaving one wolf standing. It seemed like it was the leader of the pack. It roared loudly and sent a shockwave across the forest. The pieces of the other wolves merged with the leader and it grew and grew until it was three stories high.

"Looks like someone doesn't want to go down without a fight" he exclaimed. In response it roared again, sending debris everywhere. "I'll take that as a yes." and he spin dashed himself at the beast. The attack made contact but had no effect. _Looks like its gonna take more than that._ He chained together homing attacks on the beast legs, back and snout. It staggered the beast a little bit, but it quickly regained its bearings. While Speed was in the air the beast swatted him to the ground.

"OW! That was a bit Darude." (LOL!) "I wanted to go easy but you leave me no choice!" he yelled.

He raised his palm in the air. At first nothing. Then all of the sudden, a strong wind appeared of nowhere. The wind started to gather in his palm and converse into a green ball with spikes, make it look like a star.

"Take this! Wind Style: Rasen-" he pulled back, " Shuriken!" and let it go towards the wolf. It spun like a buzz saw towards the beast. It struck home and went inside the beast. At first it seemed ineffective. Then all of the sudden, a green dome appeared where the beast stood. The was cut into a million pieces and scattered everywhere- including towards the pony! Thinking fast he race over there scooped it up and away from the wreckage. After everything seemed calm he set it down. It looked at him with its big green eyes.

"Wait! Don't run away. Please? I just want to talk." He explained.

It turned around and looked at him. Still scared out of its wits it sat on its hunches.

"Thank you. Ok lets start over. My name is Speed. Speed the hedgehog. What yours?" he asked.

"Flu….Flut…Fluttershy.." it responded.

"What?" he cupped his hand to his ear." Say again?"

"Flutter…Flutters" she replied.

"What?" he asked again.

"Fluttershy." She still said quietly but loud enough for him to hear.

"Fluttershy, huh? Nice name. I wanted to know my way around… wherever this is. What planet am I on?"he aske.

"You mean, your not from Equestria?" she asked.

"Yep. I come from a place called Mobius." He explained."Can't really say much about it. I've only been there a couple of months."

That confused her. "But you look grown. How do not know about your own planet?"

"Well you see… I sort of lost most of my memory except for my name and power." He explained.

"Oh my. I'm so sorry." She said

"Don't be" he replied," it isn't your fault I lost my memory."

He smiled at her, and all of her tension melted away. Even though they just met, she felt like a million bits talking to him. She started to daydream about him. Them going dancing, sharing spaghetti, holding hoof and hand at their wedding. _OH, MY, GOODNESS,!_ She thought.

"Uh.. Flutters?" Speed asked. "You alright. You're sort of, turning red."

She snapped out of it looked at him with big eyes.

"SORRY. GOT TO GO. BYEEEEEEEEEEE!" and she took off.

"Huh, wonder what that was about. Its ok. Not everyday you see a walking, talking hedgehog. Ill see her later. I'm sure of it. Now what to do next. Maybe I should go make some new friends. " He pondered and sped off.

Little did Speed know, he was being watched by a pair of wandering magenta eyes that rested on a cloud.

"I'm not sure who you are, but if you think you can earn my trust that easily you are sorely mistaken." The figure said. And it sped off with the cloud towards the village.

**There you go everybody. Speed has met his first resident of Equestria. And met a new enemy. Another might be on the way sooner that he thinks. And why is Fluttershy acting like that? Where is the threat he was warned about?**

**Find out next time in the next installment of Element of Freedom.**

**Also I'm sorry to announce but I cannot take OCs in this story. Maybe in the future I can but seeing as how this is my first story, I want to get into the feel of it first, but thanks for asking. I really appreciate it. :)**

**Review, Follow, and Favorite please.**

**This is Speed the hedgehog, signing off!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello readers. Welcome to another installment of Element of Freedom. **

**On the last episode, Speed landed on the planet Equestria, met Fluttershy, and took down a pack of strange wolves,. Also Fluttershy seems to be acting strange, and her attitude seems to draw some unwanted attention. What could this mean? Find out now!**

**Element of Freedom**

**4 out of 6 join the mix **

"Hmmm." Speed hummed to himself. He stood in front of a sign that said "Ponyvile. Population: everypony knows your name!"

_Heh. Shadow would go insane over this place._ Speed thought. Then he made his way into town. Almost instantly he noticed that all its inhabitants were ponies. Some had horns, others had wings like Fluttershy._ Speaking of which, where did she go? _He pondered. What he should've been wondering was how did he get surrounded. This troubled him and so he tried being friendly.

"Um… hello. My name is-" he started.

"IT TALKS!" yelled on of the bystanders. "WHY IS IT ON ITS BACK HOOFS!?" another shouted. "WHATS ON ITS FRONT HOOFS!?" one more yelled.

"MONSTER! DEMON! ALIEN! ZOMBIE.!"

All this yelling was getting to him. He was staring to get a headache. He reached forward to try and communicate but was interrupted again.

"Stand back! I got this!" said a voice that sounded a little like Sonic's. As he turned around, he saw was a rainbow blur slam into him sending him flying across the sky and landing on the other side of town. He sat up to see who his attacker was. It was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored main and tail.

"All right you freak, prepared to best by the mighty Rainbow "Danger" Dash!" she shouted.

Speed got back on his feet. "Hold on. I don't want to fight, I just want to talk." He said only to roll out of the way as she charged him again.

"Good. That makes it easier for me." She smirked and charged again.

"Rainbow stop!" said a voice causing her to stop mid charge. 3 more ponies showed up. One that had orange skin, blonde mane, green eyes, and wore a cowboy hat. Another was white with a horn on top of her head, blue eyes and a long purple main and tail. Lastly there was a pink pony with blue eyes, and a poofy dark main and tail.

"Rainbow darling, what is the meaning of this?" the white one asked.

"Yeah Rainbow. Why you attacking this critter here for?" the orange one asked.

"Don't you know that if you beat him to a pulp he can't party." The pink on asked.

_These guys seem to be Rainbow's friends. _Speed noticed.

"Do you not see him?" she asked" the dudes a freak. Look at him. He scared all the ponies in Ponyvile by just walking here. Imagine the damage he could do!"

"But Rainbow darling. Did he attack anypony? Did he attack the town? Did he attack you?" the white one asked.

This caused her to tense up a little bit and it seemed like she calmed down.

"If I can say something? Speed asked causing the 4 to look at him," why did she attack me all of the sudden? Is that how you greet everyone who walks through here?"

"Nope!" the pink one answered " we usually throw them a welcome party!"

Speed smirked. "That's sounds like a welcome to me." He said.

"GUYS!" Rainbow yelled. " Don't let him get to you. He attacked Fluttershy. I saw her fly away from him with cuts!" this caused everypony to gasp

"He did WHAT!?" the pink one asked enraged.

"Sorry partner, but that's where we cross the line!" the orange one yelled.

"I don't care how fashionable you look, no one and I mean NO ONE hurts Fluttershy!" the white one yelled.

"Wait! What!? I never attacked Fluttershy!" he tried reasoning but it was futile. Their eyes burned woth rage.

"Lets get em girls!" and the four charged towards him.

_Darn it. Seems like I got no choice. _ Speed thought and got into a fighting stance. It was a standoff. Not a single side move. The ponies shooting daggers at Speed. Him staring back but not with hatred, but with excitement.

"Charge!" The pink one yelled. The orange one came running towards Speed. As Speed prepared to engage in hand to hand combat the pony did a quick 180 and kicked with her back hooves. Speed blocked but skidded back a little. He sidestepped Rainbow as she came flying past him. Then he froze, as in something was holding him down. He looked around and saw a blue aura surrounding him. The white one's horn was glowing the same color. Then suddenly from out of no where the pink one appeared in front of him and pulled out… a massive cannon?

_Where did she get that? _he questioned. Then she fired confetti and streamers at such a high velocity, Speed went crashing through a building wall. The 4 stood in front of the wreckage.

"Is that all ya got ya varmit." The orange one asked the wreckage. A glove hand popped out and afterwards a body.

"WHAT?! How is this possible?" the white one asked." He looks practically unscathed."

Speed rolled his shoulder and cracked his neck. "Gotta say, you ponies pack on heck of a punch. But now that you had your fun, can we stop fighting and talk? Please? I would never hurt Fluttershy." He said.

"Applejack" the white one asked the orange one, "is he really being sincere?"

The orange, apparently named Applejack, answered "I don't know Rarity. He seems sincere and honest. What do you think Pinkie Pie?" she asked the pink one.

"He seems okie dokie lokie to me!" Pinkie answered. When she said that Rainbow dash shot up into the sky. " Where's Dashie going?" she questioned.

"IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THE RIGHT THING FINE! MOVE OUT THE WAY!" Rainbow shouted.

_What does she mean?_ Speed wondered. He had no idea what she was talking about but the others did.

"Wait Rainbow! You could kill yourself and him! Lets just talk." Applejack yelled.

"Rainbow, this is not how a lady should act!" Rarity shouted.

"You might not be able to party anymore Dashie!" Pinkie shouted.

At first there was utter silence. Then-BOOM!- a giant rainbow ring appeared in the sky. Speed didn't need to see what she did. He's done it himself countless times before. She had preformed a Sonic Boom. The other ponies gasped and started to whisper among themselves. Then they did the unthinkable, they stood their ground in front of Speed. This really shocked him.

"Guys, what are you-" he started to ask.

"We're doing what our hearts are telling us to." Applejack answered, "consider it our apology."

"We shouldn't have been so quick to judge. Please forgive us." Rarity stated.

"This is not how we greet new friends in Ponyvile. We were not okie dokie lokie." Pinkie said.

"Guys." He said. "Move please!? You shouldn't have to be hurt because of me. Please move!"

Rainbow had just descended and was speeding towards them, leaving a rainbow trail behind.

Suddenly time slowed down. Did you ever have those moments where you leap before think, shoot first ask questions later? This is what Speed was feeling. He leap In front of the girls and ran as fast as he could towards Rainbow and created a green sonic boom he took off. The girls were shocked at this but he didn't care. He skidded to a stop and leaned back his head and swung downwards as she reached him. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he yelled.

BOOM!

As the dust cleared what unveiled was shocking to everypony. Rainbow and Speed in a crater, Speed standing, Rainbow lying down eyes closed, and Speed's eyes turned completely white.

"Did some get the name of that wall?" he asked in a daze before passing out.

A purple unicorn was minding her own business doing what she normally does, reading. She only reads to study, pass time, or to help her go to sleep. Today she was trying to prepare for the impending apocalypse tossing books back and forth in her hot air balloon.

"Twilight, can panic quieter? I am trying to sleep." Said a purple dragon with green eyes, a green underbelly, and green spikes on his back, head, and tail, this was Spike, assistant to Twilight Sparkle, student of the lands ruler. She was recently given an assignment to study about the "magic of friendship".

Twilight couldn't believe it. How could Princess Celestia worry about the friendship instead of the threat at hand. An ancient evil was going to be released tonight from the moon and she worries about friendship?

"I'm sorry Spike. I guess the fate of the world doesn't really matter now does it?" she asked sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes." Twilight everything will be fine ok? Calm down or else you might down the balloon." He stated.

Twilight sighed. _He's right. I should quit worrying so much. Everything with probably be fine. _She then hears to booms and turns her head. She sees a rainbow streak and a green streak going towards each other. Then the green streak stopped and the rainbow kept going until-

BOOM!

There was a green mushroom cloud.

_Probably._

_Not._

**There you go everybody! Speed has clashed against the 4 ponies. He also takes a risky gambit to protect his new friends. And what evil is Twilight talking about? Could it have anything to do with the voice Speed heard?**

**Find out next time on Element of Freedom!**

**Please Review, Follow, and Favorite.**

**This is Speed the hedgehog signing off!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Element of Freedom**

**Friendship is Freedom Pt1**

"Partner?" a voice asked. Speed eyes fluttered before closing again.

"Is he going to be ok?" another asked.

"Only one way to find out!" a cheery voice announced. He heard a huge intake of air.

"WAKIEWAKIE EGGS AND BAKIEEEE!" This woke him up easily.

"WAHHHHHH!" he yelled as he hit the ceiling. After he sat down he looked around at his surroundings and noticed that he was on top on some hay. He also noticed that outside there was a lot of apple trees that went on for miles and miles.

"Well that worked." Said a voice behind him. He turned and saw Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and, to his surprise, a purple unicorn, and even more to his surprise, Rainbow Dash.

"Hey guys. So I wasn't going insane and thinking I was in a world full of colorful ponies." Speed said. "So, where am I? Am I in some sort of orchard?" Speed asked.

"Eyup. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!" Applejack exclaimed. " We brought ya here so you could rest up, especially after that big ole 'incident'."

Speed immediately turns towards Rainbow, who looked really guilty. "Hey Speed." She mumbled.

"Now Rainbow darling" Rarity stated, "what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"Say again? I couldn't quite hear you?" Speed teased.

"I'm sorry." She said with a twinge of annoyance in her voice.

"Sorry, still can't quite hear ya." He said again.

"IM SORRY! THERE! YA HAPPY NOW!?" She yelled out.

"Apology accepted." Speed stated. "Believe it or not, I don't blame you for what happened. You saw your friend hurt. You see a strange creature by it. Your instincts kicked in. I completely understand." Speed said with a smile.

"Mighty kind of ya to forgive someone who tried to kill you. I'm curious though" she asked making Speed raise an eyebrow. "Were you able to kick every one of our tails back there." Speed nodded yes." Why didn't ya defend yourself?"

"Because, in all honesty" he stated, "I didn't want to hurt you guys. You saw what happened with RD" making Rainbow roll her eyes, "I didn't want to resort to that. I just wanted to make friends."

"Well Speed, consider us friends until the end of time!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"I agree." Said Rarity.

"So do ah" said Applejack.

When they looked at Rainbow she muttered, "Yeah, yeah, yeah were friends ok?" then Speed turned towards the purple unicorn.

"And who are you? I don't believe we've met." He asked.

"I am Twilight Sparkle, student and pupil to Princess Celestia." At that Speed turned his head.

"Who's Princess Celestia?" he questioned. All the mares present jaws fell to the ground. Suddenly Twilight was in his face, horn flaring purple and eyes full of rage.

"WHO IS PRINCESS CELESTIA? WHO IS PRINCESS CELESTIA?!" She asked in an enraged tone. "She is the ruler of Equestria, the raiser and setter of the sun! My teacher! How can you not know who she is?"

"Well Twilight" Rarity intervened, "Speed isn't from Equestria. He comes from another dimension you see."

The unicorn's eyes widened even more. Not out of anger but excitement. "Tell. Me. EVERYTHING!" she stated. So( in order for him not to pestered and annoyed to death) he did. He told her about how the sun and the moon rose on their own. How the weather cast itself. Then he told them about their technology but first had to explain what technology was. Then he told them about his lack of memory (which was probably even more messed up due the head butt he performed earlier), then he told them about his friends, how they helped him discover his power and how helped out on adventures and looked for clues to his past.

"Well, now that you know about me, why don't you tell me about yourselves?" he asked. So they told him about what they do in Ponyvile. Applejack works on the farm they were currently at. She also stayed with her Granny Smith, her brother Big Macintosh, Big Mac for short and her little sister Applebloom. Rarity was a seamstress and gem collector who lived with her cat Opalescence and her little sister Sweetie Bell. Pinkie Pie worked at sugar cube corner, along with Mr. and Mrs. Cake. Her family was back at the rock farm. Rainbow Dash lived in Cloudsdale and actually lives in cloud house! She's known as the fastest flier in Equestria. Speed smirked at this remark but kept quiet, not wanting to ruin their already sketchy friendship. Lastly Twilight explained she was from Canterlot, capital of Equestria. As mentioned before she was the student and pupil of Princess Celestia.

"By the way" he asked "when did you meet Twilight?"

"Well, after we got you here, Twilight came to us to set up for the Summer Sun Centennial. (is that what it's called?). That's when the princess raises the sun right here in Ponyvile, tonight!" Applejack explained.

"Ahem" Pinkie cleared her throat causing everypony to look at her" can you guys leave me and Speed? Alone?" she asked.

"Why?" Applejack asked.

"Just do it!"She demanded and she pushed them out. She then turned to Speed. "Ok I need you to distract Twilight ok? Before you ask why, it's for her surprise welcome party." Speed nodded his head in understanding.

"Alright, you can count on me." Speed saluted then they both walked out the house.

"Hey Twilight" he called causing the unicorn in question to trot towards him. "Do you want to learn more about me and my home?" Her response was grabbing him and speeding off into the distance.

"Excellent. It's all going according to plan." Pinkie said disappearing in the shadows

_3 Hours Later_

The duo was now in front of Twilight's tree house/library.

"Thank you sooo much Speed. I learned so many new things I could study on." She exclaimed wrapping him in a death hug.

"No…problem…could… you…let me go…please?" Speed asked gasping for air. She let him go and backed up with a slight blush.

"Sorry. I was just happy." She said smiling sheepishly. "Let's go inside, shall we?"

"Sure." He answered, knowing what was going to happen. As they stepped inside it was dark and quiet then-

CLICK!

"SURPRISE!"

The lights flicked on to reveal ponies wearing party hats, holding balloons, and streamers fallings from a banner that said "WELCOME TO PONYVILE TWILIGHT AND WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA SPEED!"

"Whoa!" Speed said. "I thought this party was for Twilight?"

"It is, but you're also new to Equestria as well! And how do we welcome new friends? A PARTY!" was Pinkie's answer. The pink pony then hopped onto a stage. "MARES AND GENTLECOLTS! IN HONOR OF HAVING OUR FIRST, EVER, DIMENSIONAL TRAVELER, I GOT THE ONE AND ONLY VINYL SCRATCH A.K.A DJ PON3!" she announced but ponies seemed to be covering their ears. "Ops, sorry had it turn up to loud. *Ahem* give it up for DJPON3!" cheers from ponies went up everywhere. A white unicorn with a light and dark blue mane and tail. She also sported purple sunglasses with black rims.

"Let's mix it up!" and started to make some sweet beats. Ponies everywhere were dancing and drinking(no alcohol of course). Some were starting dance circles at various locations, but the main attraction was near the stage. We could see Speed busting out various break dancing moves. From spinning like a windmill to spinning on one hand to spinning only on his head. Ponies were egging him on, cheering as he balanced himself on his head and hands looking like a grasshopper and finally stopped dancing. Just then, Pinkie made an announcement.

"Thank you every pony for coming to this party. Up next we're going to have performances by Hay-z, Linkin Stable, and Hoof40!" she yelled. Just then Speed ran up to Pinkie, whispered something in her ear. It must've been interesting because she got a huge smile. "Also our guest Speed is going to perform with them! " Ponies everywhere went into frenzy.

Just then 5 stallions came in from the back. 4 white ponies and 1 brown colored pony. Speed walked up to them and chats for a little bit, then smiled and hoof/fist bumped with them.

"All right every pony, make some noise!" the brown one announced.

**(Play Numb/Encore- by Linkin Park/Jay-Z)**

_**Speed: Can I get an encore? Do you want more? Cookin raw with the Brooklyn boy.**_

_**I said for one last time I need y'all to roar.**_

_**Crowd/Linkin Stable: WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU WAITING FOR?**_

_**Speed: After me there shall be no more. I said for one last time I need y'all to roar!**_

_**Who you know fresher than hov'? Riddle me that.**_

_**The rest of y'all know where I'm lyrically at. Can't none of y'all mirror me back.**_

_**Yeah hearing me rap is like is like hearing G rap in his prime. I'm**_

_**Young H.O raps grateful dead. Back to take over the globe now break bread.**_

_**I'm in Boeing jets, global express, out the country but the blueberry still connect.**_

_**On the low with the yacht got a triple deck but when you're young what buck you expect. Yep. Yep.**_

_**Grand opening, grand closing, god da** your man Hov' cracked the can open again.**_

_**Who you gonna find doper than him with no pen. Just draw off inspiration. **_

_**Soon you gon' see you can't replace him. With cheap imitations for these generations. Can I get an encore? Do you want more? Cookin raw with the Brooklyn boy.**_

_**I said for one last time I need y'all to roar.**_

_**Crowd/Linkin Stable: WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU WAITING FOR?**_

_**Speed: After me there shall be no more. I said for one last time you better make some noise.**_

_**Crowd/Linkin Stable: WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU WAITING FOR?**_

_**Speed:*Sigh* Look what you made me do, look you what I made for you**_

_**Knew if I paid my dues how they pay you**_

_**When you first come in the game they try to play you**_

_**Then you drop a couple of hits look how they wave to you**_

_**From Marcy to Stallion Square**_

_**To the only that matters in just a matter of years(yeah)**_

_**As fate would have it, Hay's status appears to be at an all time high**_

_**Perfect time to say goodbye **_

_**When I come back like Jordan wearing the 4-5**_

_**It ain't to play games with you**_

_**It's to aim at you, probably maim you**_

_**If I owe you I'm blowing you to smithereens**_

_**C**kbucker take one for your team**_

_**And I need you to remember one thing (one thing)**_

_**I came, I saw, I conquered**_

_**From record sales to sold out concerts**_

_**So motherbucker if you want this encore I need you to scream til your lungs get sore**_

_**Linkin Stable: I'm tired of being what you want me to be**_

_**Feeling so faithless lost under the surface**_

_**Don't know what you're expecting of me**_

_**Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes**_

_**(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)**_

_**Every step that I take is another mistake to you**_

_**(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)**_

_**And every second I waste is more than I can take**_

_**I've become so numb I can't feel you there**_

_**I've become so tired so much more aware**_

_**I'm becoming this all I want to do **_

_**Is be more like me and be less like you**_

_**I've become so numb**_

_**Speed: Can I get an encore do you want more(more)**_

_**Linkin Stable: I've become so numb**_

_**Speed: So for one last time I need y'all to roar**_

_**One last time I need y'all to roar.**_

The crowd went crazy. Everypony was clapping their hooves and stomping. They even began to chant. "SPEED! SPEED! SPEED!." Eventually the party music kicked back on.

"My word Speed! That was spectacular!" Rarity complemented. "Where did you learn how to sing?"

"How did you know the song?" Rainbow asked.

"Back on my planet they aren't called Hay-z or Linkin Stable. They're called Linkin Park and Jay-Z. They performed the same song. Also they aren't called Hoof40. Instead they're called Crush40. So I'll likely know the song they're gonna play next." As if on if on cue, Pinkie hit the mic and made another announcement.

"Hello again every pony. Time for our final guess performer, give it up for Hoof40!" she exclaimed. "Also, another appearance by Speed the hedgehog!" The crowd went wild again as 2 yellow unicorns and one red pegasus. Speed also walked up there with the lead guitar.

"Oh come on!" Rainbow complained. "Are you saying he can sing and play guitar!"

"Rainbow!" Applejack said."Why are you being so rude?"

The pegasus didn't respond.

"All right every pony!" Speed announced, "Are you ready to rock!?" The crowd responded by cheering loudly. "Alright, here we go!"

**(Play Live and Learn-Crush 40)**

**Can you feel life moving through your mind**

**Ohhhhh **

**Looks like it came back for more- yeah**

**Can you feel time slipping down your spine**

**Ohhhhhh**

**You try and try to ignore**

**But you can hardly swallow**

**Your fears and pain**

**And you can't help but follow**

**And puts you right back where you came**

**YEAHHHH**

**Live and learn**

**Hanging on the edge of tomorrow**

**Live ad learn**

**From the works of yesterday**

**Live and learn**

**If you beg or if you borrow**

**Live and learn **

**You may never find your way**

**WHOAAAAAA**

**Can you feel life tangle you up inside**

**And now your face down on the floor**

**But you can't save your sorrow **

**You've paid in trade**

**And you can help but follow**

**And puts you right back where you came**

**Live and learn**

**Hanging on to the edge of tomorrow**

**Live and learn**

**From the works of yesterday **

**Live and learn**

**If you beg or if you borrow**

**Live and learn**

**You may never find your way**

**Hey, whoa,whoa**

**OH**

**YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH**

**(Guitar Solo)**

**There's a face searching far, so far and wide**

**There's a place where you dreamed you'd never find**

**Hold on to what if…**

**(Hold on to what if!)**

**Live and learn**

**Hanging on to the edge of tomorrow**

**Live and learn**

**From the words of yesterday**

**Live and learn**

**If you beg or if you borrow**

**Live and learn **

**You may never find your way**

**(Repeat)**

**Live and learn **

**Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah**

**(Repeat)**

Just as before the crowd went into a complete frenzy. Speed hoof/fist bumped the others. Slowly the party started to die down and every pony started to take their leave.

"Bye! Thanks for coming! Hope to see you soon. Have a good time!" Pinkie said goodbye to every partier in the tree house. Afterwards, with Speed and Rainbow Dash's speed and Rarity and Twilight's magic, the place looked spotless.

"Pinkie Pie, I want to thank you for welcoming me like this. It means so much. When I first arrived I thought that I wouldn't need any friends. But when you gals accepted me and treated me so well, I-i-I *sob**sob*" the others watched in silence as she started to breakdown and tears fell down like waterfalls as she began to cry.

"Same goes for me. When I first came here, I was feared and called a freak. I thought that I was going to be rejected by every on- err, pony. But you guys convinced every pony to give me a chance. Thank you." The others smiled. Then he noticed something."Fluttershy? Is that you?" Speed asked. Every pony turned their heads toward a mare in the back.

"Oh, hell-hell-hello Speed." She timidly said. " Sorry I didn't talk to you during the party. I was a bit too nervous."

"Now prob, I'm glad I was able to talk to you now." At that she started to turn red. Speed failed to notice this but the other mares didn't.

"Wait , noooooooooooo." Rainbow said.

"Y'all don't think…" Applejack started.

"Could Fluttershy really be?"Rarity questioned.

"OHHHHHHH!" Pinkie squealed.

"My, my, Fluttershy. You might want to tone it down." Twilight teased. Speed didn't know what was going on or what they were talking about but then he noticed something. He went over to Fluttershy and touched her wings.

He immediately regretted that decision. Fluttershy turned around and bucked him so hard and quick, Speed passed out. Then she flew out the house.

"Sooo, what do we do about Speed?" Rainbow asked.

"I guess he could continue to stay on the farm. I'll wake him up before the Summer Sun Centennial." Applejack suggested. With that the mare separated and went to their separate homes.

Little did they know that tomorrow would change their lives forever.

**Speed has just experienced his first taste of friendship with 6 mares. Unknown to him and the 6 mares that tomorrow at the Summer Sun Centennial a new threat will make it's appearance. **

**What will our heroes encounter next time on Element of Freedom; Friendship is Freedom. **

**WOW! Over 2000 words. This was very tough and tiring. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Don't forget review, favorite, and follow.**

**This is Speed the hedgehog signing off!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Element of Freedom**

**Friendship is Freedom **

**Part 2**

Speed slowly starts to open his eyes, only to find himself in an endless black void.

"Well, not the weirdest dream I had." Speed said.

_Hello again. _ A voice said startling Speed. He looked around for the source of the voice. _Do not fret. We are only speaking to you in your dreams. _Speed relaxed a little bit.

"Aren'tyou the voice that lead me to Equestria? Just who are you?" Speed questioned. _I cannot say my name. That would invoke her presence and our meeting would be cut short. But I have a feeling we shall meet soon._ Speed sighed at this.

"Can you at least tell me what I'm doing in this place?" Speed asked. _ I've called you here to give you some insight about what's going to happen when you wake up. An ancient evil is about to rise and you are a key part in its downfall._ Speed nodded his head in hearing this.

"Is this the one you mentioned back on Mobius?" Speed asked. _No, but it does have a part in awakening this evil. In fact, it will not be the only one._

"Of course it wouldn't be." Speed said dejectedly. This caused the voice to chuckle. _ Fret not hedgehog, I am confident you will succeed. Now I must go, she is starting to take notice. I wish you good luck Speed. _And then it went silent. A light started to blind Speed's eyes.

"Speed?" a voice asked. "Speed?" it asked louder. His eyes started to flutter and began closing again. "SPEED!" the voice yelled.

"GAH!" he yelled. He instantly sat up and coated his hand in a green wind and formed it into a blade and lunged blindly.

"Whoa! Easy Speed, calm down will ya'!" the voice asked. He opened his eyes to see he had his blade pointed as Applejack's neck while his other hand pinned her down. "Is this you treat every pony who tries to wake ya' up?" she asked.

"Sorry AJ. Just got a bit startled." He said helping her up putting his blade away.

"I came to wake you up. It's time for the Summer Sun Celebration. I've been watching ya' to make sur you're ok." She explained.

"Wait, you were watching me sleep?" he asked causing Applejack to blush.

"We-well-well-I-I-I was just um….." she stammered. Then Speed burst into laughing.

"I was just messing with ya. HAHAHAHA!" he laughed, only to be hit hard in the arm. "Ow!" he yelled in pain.

"That wasn't funny" AJ stated with a tinge of red on her face.

"Alright. Where's this celebration held at? Actually, just tell me what it looks like. You know what, never mind I'll do this my way." He stated as he opened the window next to his bed." Ok, now AJ, do you trust me?" he asked much to her surprise.

"Yeahhhh….?" She answered with suspicion.

"No, I mean do you REALLY trust me?" he asked.

She looked at him long and hard before answering," Yeah, I do." Then without warning, Speed grabbed her and held her bridal style.

"Then hold on!" he yelled and jumped out the window.

"AHHHHHHHH!" she yelled as she thought she was falling to her doom. Then the falling stopped. She removed her hooves from her eyes and couldn't be what she was seeing. It was Speed, floating in midair.

"Whaaa….?" She stated with a dazed look. Then she was all of the sudden moving forwards at speeds she couldn't even imagine. Speed had started flying towards the town at extreme speeds. He kept flying until he saw a building with what seemed like banners with a sun on them. It was pretty tall, much taller than the other buildings. Seeing as how that was the only building with decorations he came in for a landing, hovering a few inches above the ground finally planting his feet on the ground. As soon as he touched the ground, AJ leapt off him to go towards the nearest trashcan and emptied her stomach. This caused Speed to smile sheepishly.

_Maybe I might have gone too fast._ Speed thought. After she was finished, she marched right over to him and slapped him as hard as she could.

"Ya could've at least warned me!" she yelled at him before calming down."Well ya' did get us here pretty darn quick. If we went my way we would've missed the princess, so I suppose I should say thanks." She stated. He gave her a thumb up and a smile. Then the duo entered the building. Immediately they heard Pinkie's voice.

"Are you excited? Cause I'm excited! I've never been this excited before. Except when I first met you in town and I went-GASP-, but I mean really what could top that?"She said excitedly. Speed and Applejack chuckled nervously.

"She sure is excited isn't she?"Speed asked. Applejack nodded her head. Then they heard a mare cough really loudly in order to get everyponys attention. On the balcony was a brownish grey mare with a grey mane and tail. She wore gold glasses and had a scroll tied with a blue ribbon on her flank.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration! And an even greater pleasure to bring you the Raiser of the sun, vanquisher of the mare on the moon and Ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia!" she announces and the curtains on the balcony above her open up to reveal…nothing. There is a commotion among the crowd as they started to fear for their princess. Applejack looked around nervously as she tried to spot the princess. She looked at Speed for his reaction. What she saw surprised her. His spikes looked more spiky than usual. He also wore an expression that made her shudder.

"Speed?" AJ asked him. He looked at her with the same expression he had on earlier. Then his eyes widened as he looked at her. Though it seemed like he wasn't looking at her but something else. Then he slowly turned his gaze from him towards the window where the moonlight shined through. She followed his gaze and became frightened at what she saw.

It was the moon. It was still there, but one important detail was missing.

The mare on the moon.

It was gone.

"MWAHAHAHAHAHA!" a sinister voice rang out. The crowd turned its gaze towards the top balcony and saw a dark blue mist swirling in that space. Then the mist disappeared and reveals a menacing figure. It had black fur and wore dark blue armor. It had ice blue eyes with black slits in them. It also had a dark blue starry mane and tail and it had a crescent moon on her flank. What was most interesting though was the fact that it had wings AND a horn.

"Greetings my ponies. It is with great pleasure to announce that I have returned!" the being announced. She then looks at the crowd of ponies."Am I not royal enough for you? Have I been gone for so long that no remembers the name of the ruler of the night?"

"I know who you are!" a voice said through the crowd. The crowds parted to let none other than Twilight Sparkle address the being. "You're Nightmare Moon!" her stated, causing all the ponies in the room to gasp.

"Well, well, well, somepony remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here."Nightmare said.

"You're here to…to…" she stammers as she gulps.

"I know what you're here to do!" another voice rang out. This time the crowd didn't need to part as the voice jumped in the air and hovered there. It was none other than Speed. He was staring down Nightmare Moon."You're here to trashed by me, Speed the Hedgehog!" he yelled at her. This seemed to make her looked shocked. Then she started to laugh.

"FOAL! DO YOU THINK YOU STAND A CHANCE AGAINST ME!?" she yelled. Then he appeared in front of her.

"I stand as much a chance as a bad your breath is, which, by the way, is REALLY bad. Take a breath mint, Moonbutt." He snorted. Her horn began to glow and started shooting magical bolts at Speed who dodged them with ease." Come on, is that all you got?" he taunted. She started to growl until she chuckled.

"Well then, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get! Meet me in the old castle so you can feel the wrath of the night!" she yelled. Then she turned into mist and flew off into the night. Speed then landed on the ground.

"SPEED!" came a voice. He turned around and saw Twilight and the others run towards him. He then was tackled by Twilight who looked furious. "Are you CRAZY? That was Nightmare Moon! .MOON! You should be considering yourself lucky. She could've obliterated you on the spot! "She then looked at her friends, "We need to go to the castle. That's where the Elements of Harmony are. They are the only things that could stop her! Ohh… If only Princess Celestia was here. She would know what to do." She stated in a worried tone. Speed got from under her. He looked her in the eye and smiled. Then he proceeded to walk towards the exit." Wait! Where are you going? You aren't going to fight her are you?" she questioned.

"I'll buy you guys some time. You get the elements while I weaken her. I think I can beat her, but from what I've heard, she'll just get back up again until she is stopped by the elements. I'm counting on you guys ok?" then he flew off towards the castle. Twilight just stood there in shock by his bravery until Rainbow nudged her. She snapped out of her trance and got a determined look.

"Ok girls, we need to go through the Everfree Forest to get to the castle. I know that sounds stupid and dangerous so I understand if-"she started.

"Ok." Rainbow said. This caught Twilight by surprise.

"What? But this is Everfree we're talking about! Aren't you scared?" Twilight asked in surprise. She hadn't been expecting this.

"Oh yes. I'm terrified. But this is for our friend. We would never abandon you." Fluttershy stated.

"Quite true darling. We couldn't just let you trot into that dreadful forest by yourself." Rarity added.

"Plus we need to save da' princess. Who knows what could've happened to her'?" Applejack said.

"And I wouldn't miss a chance to see all the cool creatures in the forest. Hey! Maybe I could invite them to an animal party one day!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Plus I'm all about danger. It is my middle name after all." Rainbow boasted. Twilight was touched by her friend's words. This morning all she thought friends would do was distract her from her studies. But now she realizes that with friends, she could go farther in life more than she could by herself.

"Alright then. Let's go find those elements and stop Nightmare Moon!" Twilight exclaimed and the six ponies ran/ flew towards the forest.

Now we rejoin Speed at the entrance of the castle of the two sisters. At least it used to be a castle, but now the castle is in ruins and is slowly morphing with the forest.

"So, this is where moonbutt fled to eh? Now to go give her a warm welcome." He said with a smirk as he cracked his knuckles. He started to walk inside when he noticed something glowing. He went to investigate what was causing that glow. As he drew closer he couldn't believe his eyes.

It was a yellow emerald.

_A chaos emerald?_ Speed thought. It certainly looked like one but something was off. It wasn't giving off any form of chaos energy, but instead was making his spikes stand up. The ground around the emerald was also scorched. He couldn't wait any longer and picked the emerald up. Upon contact his body started to spasm and twitch. He gave out a cry of pain and then collapsed towards the ground.

"Hey, you ok?" he heard a voice ask."Hellooo?" he opened his eyes and couldn't believe his eyes.

It was himself.

Well almost at least. The hedgehog was yellow with electric blue highlights. He wore the exact same thing Speed wore. He also had a yellow lightning bolt as a chain around his neck.

"Wha..you…you're….m-m-me?" he asked in shock.

"Well, not entirely but pretty close enough" the hedgehog answered.

"Am I asleep?" he questioned.

"Yes and no. You see, right now we're in your mind. We came here after you picked up that emerald." The hedgehog explained. Speed had a memory of picking up the emerald and experiencing great pain.

"Who are you?" he asked, causing the yellow hedgehog to fake a hurt expression.

"You don't remember me? Aww man that stings. Right in the feels." Speed then looked guilty." I'm just messing with ya' man. No need to feel bad. I didn't expect you to anyway." This caused Speed to look at him with a surprised expression.

"What do mean by that? Did you already know about my memory? And again, who are you?" Speed asked.

"Yeah, I did know. I already said I was a part of you after all. By the way, the name's Spark." Spark held out his hand. Speed took it and felt weird. All of the sudden, images started to flow through his mind. Him and Spark arm wrestling, Speed giving Spark a noogie, and then the duo, looking bruised and scratched up, fist bumping. Speed fell back at these images. Were these his memories? Did he actually know Spark? Then his vision slowly started to fade.

"Aw man, already? Oh well, I guess I'll see ya' next time. Peace Speed!" Spark said. Then Speed passed out.

"Oh no!" a voice said. He heard another one whimper.

"Do ya' think he's alright?" A voice with a country accent asked.

"I know it was a bad idea to let him do this." Another said with worry.

"Ha! Serves him right for trying to be a hero." He heard a voice taunt, only to hear it yelp in pain after hearing a smacking sound. He then groaned causing the other voices to gasp. He opened his eyes and saw Rainbow, Pinkie, AJ, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight looming over him with worried expressions, except for Rainbow with a frown. He sprung back up, surprising the six, and landed back on the ground.

He felt different, like something inside him was bouncing around. He felt happy, excited, anxious, and various other emotions. But the one he felt most was…

Joy.

He smiled at the six who looked at him in confusion.

"Hey, whom needs to try when you are one?" he said to Rainbow who huffed.

"Speed, what happened? We came here expecting you to be fighting Nightmare, but instead we see you passed out in a patch of black grass." Twilight stated worriedly.

"I…um…I …was…napping? Yeah napping!" he said nervously, hoping to fool them. He would tell them later but not right now. They looked at him suspiciously before smiling. He sighed in relief before turning back towards the castle.

"Now, lets bust some heads!" Rainbow shouted clapping her front hooves together and about to charge, but was stopped by Applejack.

"Hold your horses there Rainbow! Nightmare Moon could be waiting for us with a trap!" Twilight said. Suddenly an evil laugh ripped across the forest.

"I do not need amateur traps against you foals!" the voice rang. Suddenly Nightmare appeared in front of the group next to a statue Speed had just noticed. It held 5 orbs with a jewel shaped imprint in them. Speed narrowed his eyes while Twilight gasped. Fluttershy hid behind Rarity who was trembling in fear. Applejack took a step back, Pinkie jumped on to a tree branch, and even Rainbow looked a little scared.

"She has the elements!" Twilight exclaimed." Without them, we can't stop her!"

"Which is why I'm not letting you get to them."Nightmare stated. Then she flapped her wings and floated in the air above the elements. Then her horn began to glow and so did the elements.

"NOOO!" Twilight shouted.

"Not if I can help it!" Speed yelled in defiance. Then the 2 jumped at her and a bright flash occurred, obscuring every pony's vision. When the flashed died down, Nightmare, Speed, Twilight, and the elements had disappeared.

"What the... they're gone!" Rainbow shouted.

"Look!" Applejack shouted drawing every pony's attention. She was pointing to an old watch tower where a bright flashed appeared.

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go help them!" Rainbow shouted. The others nodded and raced off to help their friends.

The flash died down and revealed Twilight standing next to Speed facing down Nightmare with the elements at their feet.

"You have made a grave mistake." Nightmare sneered at the two.

"The only mistake I made wasn't giving you those breathmints." Speed joked causing Twilight to giggle.

"ARRRGG! You are becoming very annoying!" Nightmare raged.

"Speed I think you should let me handle this." Twilight said.

"Huh, why?" he asked.

"Because I know more about the elements and I can use magic. You may be fast, but your also reckless. We need strategy to beat her." Twilight explained.

"Finnnneee." He huffed. Twilight began to charge her horn and scratched her hoof against the floor.

"You're joking right? You're joking." Nightmare stated dryly. Twilight then charged at Nightmare. Nightmare then charged at Twilight. Right when the two were about to collide, Twilight teleported past Nightmare and appeared in front of the elements. Nightmare was about to turn around when she tripped over something. She looked and saw a foot. Speed looked away innocently and whistled a tune. She then shot a beam at him and sent him flying into a wall. She then teleported to Twilight, who was charging the elements with her magic, and bucked her across the room. Speed jumped up and caught her before she hit the ground. The elements started to glow before the glow faded.

"Did you actually think that would work? Cleaver scheme young one but playtime is OVER!" she yelled. She reared up and stomped the ground. The elements jumped up and when they hit the ground, split into shards. Twilight's eyes went wide with despair.

"It's over, we lost Speed. I thought I could give the elements enough power to work, but I failed. I failed Celestia, I failed Ponyvile, I failed my friends. I'm sorry." She said a tear running down her cheek.

"NO!" Speed yelled. Twilight looked at him in surprise." We haven't lost yet. As long as we can fight, we can still win! And I am willing to fight to my last breath!"

"Speed…"Twilight said softly.

"Twilight! Speed!" a country voice rang out. The duo looked behind them and saw their friends running towards them.

"Girls!" Twilight shouted happily." You came!"

"Of course we did. Why wouldn't we silly?" Pinkie stated cheerfully.

"We just couldn't sit here and let you and Speed trying your best to stop this evil." Rarity said.

"What, did you expect us to abandon you?" Rainbow questioned.

"What kinda' friends would we be if we let y'all do this by yourselves?" Applejack added on.

"I don't think I could ever forgive myself if something were to happen to you guys." Fluttershy meekly said.

"Wow guys! Thank you so much. I don't know I would do without friends like you." Twilight said happily.

"Great, are you done saying your goodbyes? I believe it's time to end this."Nightmare sneered.

"You're wrong Nightmare. It's not over yet! As long as I can breathe and as long as I have my friends I'll never give up!" Twilight yelled. Suddenly the pieces of the elements began to glow and float over to the group. Twilight knew what was happening and motioned for her friends to come over to her.

"You may have destroyed the elements physical states but you can never destroy what represents them." Twilight exclaimed.

"Applejack, the element of honesty!" The shards of the elements morphed around her and created a golden necklace appeared around Applejack's neck and had an orange apple jewel at the center.

"Fluttershy, the element of kindness!" similar to before except a pink butterfly jewel.

"Pinkie, the element of laughter!" hers with a blue balloon.

"Rarity, the element of generosity!" she had a purple diamond.

"And Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty!" and Rainbow had a red lightning bolt.

"B-But that's only five! You still don't have the sixth element!"Nightmare exclaimed looking a little scared.

"But that's where your wrong! You see, Nightmare Moon, when those elements are ignited by the… the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of Magic!" Twilight exclaimed. Just then a bright light appeared above everybody/pony. The light revealed to be an orb with a starburst imprint and radiated a blinding light. Nightmare had to shield her eyes with her wings. When she removed her wings she saw Twilight with a golden crown with a pink starburst jewel.

_NO! Not again! I can't let those rocks stop me again!_ Then the elements were engulfed in a bright light. A rainbow flowed around them before firing at Nightmare. A bright flash occurred as the rainbow struck.

The ponies then landed on the ground. They looked at where Nightmare once stood and cheered when they saw she was gone.

Except Speed.

"It's not over." He said. The ponies looked at him strangely.

"Eh? What are you talking about? She got hit with the elements it has to be over." Twilight said.

"No. She didn't, she didn't get hit."He explained. Then a maniacal laughter was heard making the group shudder. Speed then heard a odd sound.

"Fluttershy! Look out!" he yelled and dove in front of her. An explosion occurred where she was. When the smoke cleared it revealed Speed with his back exposed and burned, arms spread out in front of Fluttershy. She then squealed as he collapsed.

"S-S-Speed?" Fluttershy asked. he looked up and smiled weakly.

"Barely made it." He chuckled. Then a mist appeared in front of the elements and revealed to be Nightmare Moon, completely unharmed.

"But how? You were hit with the elements. How come there was no effect?" Twilight asked.

"2 things really, now that I think about it. The 1st reason was because I simply teleported out of the way, but now I think that didn't matter. The 2nd reason is even simpler, it was too weak." She said with an evil smile. " These rocks became weak over the last millennia while I grew stronger. How do you think I escaped?" she sneered.

"Then we'll just use them again!" Rainbow shouted defiantly, but then slumped over."Wha..

"I don't feel so well." Pinkie said. Slowly the other ponies started to fall.

"It's the elements, we can't use their powers twice in a row." Twilight realized.

"Now prepare to be destroyed!"Nightmare exclaimed.

"No."Nightmare looked for who the voice came from. It was Speed. He slowly stood up and Nightmare in the eyes.

"Ha! Do think you can stop me? You're already injured. Another hit and you're done for! Why do you resist?"Nightmare questioned.

"Because, if I just lay down and give up, how am I going to protect my friends? How will I fight for what's right? How will I ever get my memories?" Speed retorted." I refuse to back down. I refuse to give up. I refuse to let evil like you win!" Suddenly a green aura surrounded him."I." he took a step forward," WILL." He stood straight up."FIGHT" he looked at her with fiery eyes "FOR" He clenched his fist "FREEDOM!" He roared and a bright green light erupted from him. All the ponies in the room covered their eyes before they uncovered them and saw something surprising.

Speed was still in that same spot he was in before, but with something on his wrist. It was a golden bracelet and had an emerald green leaf jewel.

"Is that?" Twilight asked, but stopped short when she felt her strength return. She looked and saw the others getting up as well. Then she looked back at Speed. She felt so relieved, like she didn't have a worry in the world, as if Nightmare Moon didn't exist and she was back in Canterlot, surrounded by books.

"What? Impossible! There was never a 7th element of harmony! What is this sorcery?" Nightmare asked, only to receive a smirk from Speed.

"Something you're about experience. I'm gonna set you free!"He shouted at Nightmare. Then he looked back the girls." Come on girls, let's finish this!" they nodded in determination. Then they started to float with Twilight in front. The rainbow appeared around them again, but another rainbow with the different shades of green went around the other way.

"This is it Nightmare! This is the power of friendship-"Twilight started.

"AND freedom!" Speed finished. Then the 2 rainbows shot up and swirled with each other and then shot at Nightmare who couldn't move away.

"NOOOOOO!" she shouted. Then the rainbow swallowed her whole and she disappeared with the only thing remaining of her are dark blue shards.

"YAHOOO! We did it! We did it! Loy y simos!" Pinkie shouted. The other cheered as well.

"Speed that was so amazing!" Rarity exclaimed."

"Amazing? That was awesome! Way better than 20% cooler!" Rainbow stated.

"I gotta admit, that was something else partner. YEEHAW!" Applejack shouted while waving her Stetson hat in the air.

"Yay!" Fluttershy shouted though it sounded like a normal talking voice.

Suddenly a bright flash appeared in front of the group. When the light died down it reveal a tall, white, pony with golden shoes, a golden necklace with a purple jewel, and a crown with the same jewel. She also like Nightmare had a horn and wings. Her mane was flowing with a different shade of pink, blue, and green. After she arrived the ponies started to kneel. Twilight hit Speed in the knee. He got the hint and kneeled as well.

"You may rise." the figure said."I must thank you all for freeing me and stopping Nightmare Moon." She then addresses Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I knew you could do it." She smiled.

"Princess Celestia..."Twilight started, then burst out crying and went over the Princess and gave her mentor a big hug." I was so worried! I thought I'd lost you forever, but now you're here!" she sobbed.

The princess then put one of her large wings over Twilight as she continued to sob. She had looked in Speed direction. He gave her a nod of understanding. After Twilight calmed down she went back over with her friends.

"But princess, you said it was an old pony tale." Twilight said to her mentor.

"I told you that you needed to make friends, nothing more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart."Twilight glanced back and saw her friends smiling and Speed giving her a wink." Now if only another will as well." She turned towards the shards of Nightmare Moon." Princess Luna!"

The others look further in Celestia's direction and saw a pale grayish blue pony with wings and a horn. She wore a black crown and a necklace with the moon on it. Her mane was a pale blue. On her flank was a moon with a black background. At the mention of her name she gasped and fan up to Celestia with tears.

"Sister! I am so sorry! I've missed you so much! Sister!" Luna cried. The other were shocked at the news, except for Twilight.

"It is alright sister. We were made to co-rule. Will you accept my friendship?" Celestia asked. Luna's answer was a hug. Celestia hugged her back, comforting her sister.

"Ya' know Twilight, "Applejack stated" I thought you were making up a whole lot of hooey about us being the elements of harmony, but it turns out you were right."

"You know what this calls for?"Pinkie asked.

_6 hours later…_

"A party!" she answered on top of stage where she, along with the princesses and the other elements of harmony were at. The princesses wanted to publicly thank them for what they've done. Crowds of ponies were there to see them. Then Princess Celestia and Luna walked on the stage and stomped their hooves, silencing the crowds.

"We are here today to express our gratitude towards those before us. For destroying Nightmare Moon, becoming the new elements of harmony, and for freeing my sister." Celestia declared. The crowds started to cheer again until she silenced them. She then walked over to the group who were wearing their elements." Thank you my little ponies, and hedgehog. You have done Equestria a great service. "She then proceeded to nuzzle each and every one of the ponies until she came to Speed. "And you, young hedgehog, I and my sister would like to personally thank you ourselves." Then she motioned Luna over. They got on both of his sides and started giggling. Speed wondered what was going on. Then without warning, they both gave him a peck on the cheeks. His normal green color turned about as red as Rainbow's element of loyalty. Then he fainted on the spot. Other ponies cheered ,some 'ohh'ed loudly. Twilight just face hoofed.

"Ugh, not again.' She said dejectedly.

_30 Minutes later_

Speed slowly started to wake up and saw he was on some wooden floors. He then realized he was surrounded by books. He was in Twilight's tree house.

"Well, look who's awake." Somepony said. He turned around and saw the mane 6. It was Rainbow who talked earlier. She had a smug look." Took ya' long enough."

"When you fainted after the princesses showed you they're thanks, I, I mean we became so worried." Fluttershy stated.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Just took me by surprise. I expected the other mares in the town to do that, not the princesses, but what can I say? The ladies love me." Speed said smugly. Applejack then yawned, and as we all know, yawning is contagious. So the other ponies yawned too.

"I guess we're all a bit tired. Welp, I'm off to get some sleep. See y'all tomorrow!" Applejack said as she walked out. Speed in turn followed her, as well as the other five.

"Good night everypony!" Twilight yelled. Then after everyone left, Twilight went upstairs to her bedroom."Spike!" she called. Her assistant appeared in her doorway."Take a letter." He then pulled out a parchment and a quill.

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_Upon your request I have decided to stay in Ponyvile and write reports about friendship to you every week. Today I learned that friends are a wonderful thing. When I first arrived I thought friends would be nothing but a nuisance and an annoyance. I thought all I needed were books. But today I witnessed first hoof that without them I couldn't accomplish anything. When they helped me earlier today I found out that having friends that are honest, kind, generous, loyal and can make you laugh are the best friends I can ever have. And ones that fight for what's right. Friends who refuse to give up so they can protect the ones that they care about. Friends who fight, for freedom._

_Your student and pupil,_

_Twilight Sparkle_

Spike then breathed green fire on the scroll. Not burning it but magically sending it to the princess.

"Thanks Spike. That's all I need. Goodnight!" She called as Spike made his way out. Twilight then laid her head down to sleep, awaiting the adventures with her new friends.

**Finally got this out! You don't know how long this took to post! Every time I try to post it something comes up! *Sigh* Anyway, thanks for reading this chapter. I'm glad you took the time out of your day to read this. Over 5,000 words. I know it doesn't sound like much compared to other stories but I dare say I'm pretty proud of myself. Again thanks for reading and as always…**

**This is Speed the Hedgehog **_**SIGNING OFF!**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Element of Freedom**

**The Ticket Master**

**(A/N Not every chapter will be similar to the episodes in the show sorry)**

"Well, well, well, look who showed up." A voice said. Speed face palmed at the voice.

"Not you again." Speed groaned. He turned and saw a black hedgehog with red tips at the end of his quills. He wore the same jeans and jacket as Speed. His eyes and smile were that of madness, which was the only thing white in the dark void he was in. Speed got into a fighting stance.

"What do you want Inzane?" Speed asked. Inzane put his hands up defensively.

"Woah man, talk about hostile. I just came to chat. It's been a while you know." Inzane replied. Speed lowered his guard but not by much.

"Well what do you want?" Speed questioned. Inzane chuckled.

" Isn't it obvious? We need to find the other emeralds. The faster we find them, the faster we can leave this awful, colorful place." Inzane said with disgust. Speed looked confused.

"Leave?" Speed pondered." But we can't." Inzane looked bothered, his smile slowly disappearing.

"Why not?" Inzane asked slowly getting agitated. Then he looked through Speed's memories and almost snapped." Are you SERIOUS? You became friends with these, these PONIES?!" A red aura slowly started to form around Inzane.

"Well, I'm an element of harmony now. I have to stay so the elements can work." Speed explained. Inzane groaned and sat down clutching at his head. Then patches of white appeared in the void.

"Looks like times up now, but I'll wait. Soon you'll come to your senses and see that I'm right. Heheheh." Inzane chuckled before turning into black smoke. Then light flooded Speed's eyes.

"Uggg, my eyes. Too much light." Speed complained after he opened his eyes. he saw the early morning sun rising above the horizon. Just then Applejack walked in.

"Oh Speed, yer'already awake. An' here I was just about to wake ya' up. It's workin' time!" Applejack exclaimed. Speed got out of bed with a hop. Applejack had expected him to start complaining about working, but he seemed just fine.

"Sweet! I needed a good workout." Speed said. Applejack chuckled.

"Well yer' gonna get one." Then she started to walk out the door. While a normal person or pony would have done the same, Speed, being the adventurous hedgehog he is, jumped out the window. Applejack turned back to say something until she noticed the open window. She sighed in disappointment.

"Sometimes I wonder what goes through that boy's head." And she trotted down the stairs. She had met Speed outside and saw him tapping his foot impatiently.

"Come on AJ. You had me waiting a good 15 seconds." He complained. She then punched him in the shoulder."Ouch! Again really?" She laughed again.

"Alright, all you have to do" she trotted over an apple tree and kicked it with her hind hooves and knocked down all the apples into a bucket" is knock over all these apples. Easy enough right?" Speed smirked.

"Too easy." He replied. Then he went over to an apple tree and gave it a good punch knocking down the apples, and the tree. Applejack's mouth hit the ground. Speed smiled sheepishly." Uh…too much?" She just smiled nervous and turned her hooves downwards.

"Yeah…just a bit." She said nervously but couldn't help but be impressed at his strength. So for the next couple of hours, Speed and Applejack were knocking down apples.

"Speed! Applejack!" A voice called out. The two turned their heads and saw Twilight with her assistant Spike. In the dragon's hand were 2 golden tickets which oddly reminded Speed of a certain chocolate factory. Applejack all of the sudden had dashed towards the dragon.

"Are those what I think it is?" Applejack asked excitedly. The dragon mumbled something about how some ponies have no manners.

"These are tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. We received earlier today." Twilight stated. Speed had never heard of this before but guessed it was some sort of dance. Not wanting to offend the ponies he kept his mouth shut. Applejack then mentioned something about how this Gala could help her farm.

"Wait what?!" another voice cried out. Then Rainbow Dash crashed to the ground in front of Twilight." Those are tickets to the Gran Galloping Gala? Oh man, this could be my big break! The Wonderbolts perform there every year! "She then went on to ramble about how she would show her moves and impress them and how they'd beg for her to join them. Applejack then grabbed Rainbow's tail.

"Now hold on one second!" Applejack said through clenched teeth. She then spit the rainbow tail out of her mouth." Granny's health is more important than some stupid dream!" she argued.

"But this could be my big chance! I'm sure your granny will be fine." She retorted. Then she turned to Twilight. "Come on Twilight, give _**me**_ the ticket." Applejack then ran up.

"No me!" then she and Rainbow tried to one up each other." How about this? The ticket goes the winner of quick match of hoof wrestle!"

"Fine by me!" Rainbow agreed. Then the two ponies went over to the fallen tree stump Speed had punched earlier and grappled each other hoof pushing against each other.

"Girls! Listen I'll figure out who to give the ticket to later, OK?" Twilight reasoned. The two ponies then huffed.

"Fine." They both said dejectedly.

"Well if I'm not needed anymore, I'll be taking off, later." Speed said. Then he took off towards the village. Twilight said goodbye to Rainbow and Applejack as she and Spike went back to the library. Then when they were out of sight the two ponies went back to wrestling hooves.

As Speed was flying in the sky he began to wonder, what would happen if Inzane got loose? What could Speed do to stop him? How would he protect his friends? As he was pondering these things he suddenly felt a sharp pain. After the pain subsided, he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to remove the stars in his face. After the stars disappeared, he looked at his hands and saw something terrifying. On each of his palms were red runic symbols. They were very faded but still visible. Speed started to tremble.

_Hey man, don't worry! It'll be fine._ A voice said in his mind.

"Spark? Is that you?" Speed asked. The voice chuckled._ Duh, who else? By the way, when are you gonna let me have some fun? I've just been sitting here, watching you have fun and it's making me antsy!_ Speed was having trouble processing this until somepony jogged him out of his trance.

"Hi Speed!" Pinkie said in front of him.

"Wait, WHAT!?" Speed said in shock. Pinkie was hovering right in front of him. Then he saw why, she had dozens of balloons attached to her waist.

"So Speed, how the weather up there, I mean here? Eh? EH?" Pinkie joked. Speed had just looked in shock before he slowly descended towards the Carousel Boutique. Pinkie also descended with him.

"Well, I was just flying away from AJ's. Apparently she and Rainbow were getting into a fight over Twilight giving tickets to something called the Grand Galloping Gala or something." Speed said. Suddenly Pinkie's eyes went wide before she jumped in the air and tackled Speed.

"The Grand Galloping Gala?! I've always wanted to go there ever since I was a Twinkie Pinkie!" Pinkie exclaimed. Then, somehow, she and Speed envisioned Pinkie at her version of the Gala, which ended in a pink flash. Just at that moment, Twilight and Spike walked over to the two. At the sight of Twilight, she dashed over to Spike and tackled him, causing him to drop the tickets to fly out of his claws and flew into the sky. Then a light blue aura surrounded the two tickets. The tickets then floated over to Rarity who had caught them with her magic. After she looked over them and trotted over to Twilight. There was an awkward silence between the two. Suddenly Rarity squealed, causing anyponies nearby to cover their ears. Then she took Twilight, Spike, Speed, and Pinkie, for some odd reason, into her boutique.

"Twilight, do my eyes deceive me? Are these really tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Rarity asked. Twilight reluctantly nodded, causing Rarity to let out another squeal. "Oh, it's always been my dream to go to the Gala! The Gala is where the most sophisticated of ponies go to. Not only that, but the princesses attend too! And if Princess Celestia is there, than so is her charming nephew, Prince Blueblood. After she would introduce us, we would chat, talk about our desires, and eventually he would ask for my hoof in marriage, in which of course I would say 'YES'! Then we would have a magnificent, royal, wedding." She said dreamily. Then she gave Twilight a big hug." Thank you for letting me attend Twilight! You are such a darling pony." Pinkie hearing this jumped in front of Rarity.

"Hold on a minute! Twilight said she was gonna let me go!" Pinkie argued. Rarity scoffed and turned to Twilight.

"Why would you let her go? Surely true love is more important than…partying." Rarity said in disgust. 

"Who needs all that mushy, gushy stuff when you have cake? Come on Twi, give it to me!" Pinkie said. Rarity started to yell at Pinkie and Pinkie argued back. The two got into a shouting match until a small voice interrupted them.

"Um, excuse me? Twilight? I would just like to ask, I mean if it would be alright, if you haven't given it to someone else." Fluttershy meekly stated.

"You? You want to go to the Gala?" Rarity asked in surprise.

"Oh no. I mean yes. Or actually kind of. You see…" Fluttershy began to talk about the garden that surrounds the dance. She loved the plants and the animals in the garden.

"Gee Fluttershy, it sounds…beautiful?" Twilight said.

"Wait just a minute!" A gruff voice called out. The ponies and Speed looked towards the owner of the voice.

"Rainbow Dash! Were you following me?" Twilight questioned.

"No. I mean yes. I mean maybe? Look it doesn't matter. I couldn't risk a goody fourshoes give away those tickets to just anybody." Rainbow stated.

"Wait just another minute." said Applejack as she trotted over to Twilight.

"Applejack? Were you following me too?" Twilight questioned.

"No. I was following," she then pointed to Rainbow Dash" this one, to make sure she didn't try any funny business. Still trying to take mah' ticket." Then the other ponies started to surround Twilight, pestering her about who was going to get the ticket to. Then they started to argue about why they should be taken instead of everyone else. Twilight started to shrink trying to drown out the noise. She was just about to snap until…

"SHUT! UP! NOW!" Speed yelled, causing a huge gust that buffeted everypony and dragon. They started at him as he was taking deep breathes. He suddenly looked at his hands and saw them glowing red. The runic symbol was slowly creeping up his arms. He then bolted out the door and ran as fast as he could towards the Everfree Forest. Then Twilight shook herself out of her shock.

"Well, as strange and rude that was, Speed is sort of right, in a way. You need to stop arguing with each other and just wait for my decision. So no more fighting and arguing anymore, got it?" She questioned. Then her stomach began to growl. "Plus I haven't eaten all day. Now go on, shoo!" the 5 ponies walked away with disappointed looks on their faces."Now, where did Speed fly off to?"

Speed sat quietly on a fallen tree stump. He examined his hands and saw the glow had died down and the runic symbol slowly retreated to his palms. He clenched his fists and shut his eyes tightly.

"Darn it! One little argument and I'm already slipping. Have I really become this weak? I need to get stronger. I can let him slip out again." Speed said to himself. Then he heard a growl and a whimper. He turned towards the sound and started walking towards the noise. What he saw disturbed him. There were 4 timber wolves. 3 of them surrounded a smaller one. The 3 big ones were the size of an average building in Ponyvile and the small one was the size of an average stallion. The small one was barking at the three bigger ones. One them snarled and swiped at the smaller one. It yelped in pain and slowly backed up to a tree. The 3 bigger ones began to advance. Suddenly one of them leapt at the smaller one, only to be blown back by a sudden wind. Speed stood in front of the smaller one.

"3 against 1? That doesn't seem fair now does it?" Speed taunted. Then in a sudden movement, he punched one of the big ones in the chest, causing it to shatter into pieces. He shot off a huge gust of wind at another, causing it to fly off into the distance and land with a sickening _CRUNCH._ As Speed wasn't looking the last big timberwolf swiped at him from behind. Something slammed into Speed and sent him towards a tree. He heard a yelp behind him and turned around. The young timberwolf was on the ground while the bigger one loomed over him.

"Not gonna happen!" Speed said but was starting to worry. This one must've done what the first pack he fought did and absorbed what was left of his pack's remains. He looked a lot bigger now. Suddenly he felt a tingling sensation inside himself. He pulled out the source of the tingle. It was the yellow emerald he found before fighting Nightmare Moon.

"All right then Spark. You ready to rumble?" Speed asked out loud. The emerald responded by glowing brighter. "Then let's do it!"

**(Play Move-Thousand Foot Krutch)**

The emerald started to spin around Speed. He started to rise and glow with a golden light. The two timberwolves looked towards the bright light. The emerald started going faster and faster until Speed spread his arms out and yelled. A blinding light consumed him. Then the bright light shot off into the sky.

When the light finally died down it revealed a yellow hedgehog with electric blue highlights. The hedgehog opened his eyes and revealed red pupils.

"Now, let's send this wolf home with its tail in pieces." Spark said with Speed's voice. Suddenly the sky grew dark over Ponyvile and Everfree. It had started to rain."Perfect." He said. He raised his hands up and lightning began to rain down on Spark. He condensed the lightning in his hand. He looked towards the wolf with a smirk. He then descended to the ground.

"Take this! One Thousand Storms!" Spark yelled and charged towards the wolf. The wolf charged towards Spark as well. The wolf swiped and caused Spark to jump over the attack. He then launched himself towards the wolf and created a hole in it. At first nothing happened. Then lightning bolts rained from the heavens and completely eradicated the timberwolf. After the light died down, Spark reverted back to Speed. He went over to the small wolf. It looked up in what Speed was certain was fear.

"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt ya'." Speed explained. The young timberwolf craned it head to the side before leaping on Speed. Instead of attacking him, however, the timberwolf started to lick Speed's face.

"Augh! Hey, cut it out! Stop it! It tickles! Hehehe!" Speed giggled. After he got the timberwolf of him, he patted the little guy's head. Then the wolf started whining." Hey, what's wrong?" Then he heard the all too familiar noise of a stomach growling." Hehehe, guess you're pretty hungry aren't ya'?" Speed asked. He then got an idea. He grabbed a branch off a random tree and gave it to the small timberwolf. The wolf gladly accepted it and tore it to shreds, leaving only small splinters. He smiled at the sight and started to walk away until he heard a whimper. He looked behind him and saw the small wolf trembling. Speed then thought about what would happen if he left this young wolf alone.

"Well, seeing as how I can't leave you here by yourself, how about you come with me?" Speed offered. The timberwolf immediately jumped on Speed and licked him again." Alright, alright enough already. But your gonna need a name. Hmmm." Speed pondered before snapping his fingers." I got it. How about Wind Waker?" He asked. the timberwolf barked in happiness. Speed smiled." Alright, Wind Waker it is." Then he started walking towards the library, hoping he could make up for his actions earlier.

"Wow Twilight, ah' can't believe you'd do that for us. That's mighty kind of ya'." Applejack said. The other ponies in the room agreed. They heard a knock at her door. She trotted over to it and opened it revealing a very ashamed looking Speed. Twilight gasped before grabbing him with her magic and pulled him inside and shutting the door behind her. He set him down in the middle of the room. He grinned sheepishly towards everypony and dragon. They glared at him, before piling on top of him and squeezing him tightly in a group hug,

"Speed!" They all chanted. They all were talking about how worried they were when he left. Suddenly Spike burped out a scroll wrapped in green fire. He handed it to Twilight for her to read.

"Wow, that was fast." Spike said,

"What was?" Speed asked. Spike motioned towards Twilight who opened the scroll.

Twilight cleared her throat before reading.

_Dear Twilight Sparkle,_

_Why didn't you just say so in the first place?_

Spike then pulled out…

"Six tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!" Spike said excitedly. The ponies gasped in amazement.

"Now we can all go!" Twilight said excitedly. The ponies cheered in joy. Then Twilight's stomach started to rumble."Eheheheh." She laughed sheepishly. Rarity placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder.

"Allow us to treat you to dinner." Rarity said. Then the ponies began to trot out the door, each grabbing their own tickets from Spike. All except Applejack, who trotted right past Spike eyes closed. Spike was about to walk away from everypony until the ticket magically levitated itself to Applejack. Spike had a disappointed look on his face as they walked out.

"How come I don't get a ticket?" Spike asked sadly. He felt a hand on his head and turned to see Speed smiling down at him.

"Me and you Spike, we're in the same boat together." Speed said causing Spike to smile a bit. Speed put his wrist out for Spike. Spike, confused held his own wrist out. Speed then bumped both their wrist together. Spike smiled before he felt gas building up. As the ponies walked out the house, a green flame erupted inside. Spike was holding a scroll while Speed tried to put out his quills which were slightly charred. He then opened the scroll.

_Also here's one for you Spike. And you too Speed._ Spike then pulled out two more golden tickets and smiled towards Speed. Then the hedgehog and dragon ran out the house giggling like children until Spike stopped In front of Applejack, who was waiting outside the door.

"Uh, I mean, ew gross! " Spike said before hopping on Speed's back and ran off to join the others, giggling all the way while Speed was laughing out loud. Applejack chuckled silently to herself before following behind.

**There you go everyone! Another chapter done! Hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to review, favorite, and follow. Also, tell me how I did on the fight and transformation scene so that I know what to do and what not to do. **

**Anyways, this is Speed the Hedgehog…**

_**SIGNING OFF!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**lElement of Freedom**

**Applebuck Season**

"Boy howdy, I sure got mah' work cut out for me. That there is the biggest crop of apples I'd ever laid mah' eyes on." Applejack said.

"Eyyup." Said a tall red stallion with a green apple on his flank and a bandage around his waist." Too big for you to handle on your own."

"Oh come on big brother! You need to rest up and get yourself better. "Applejack said while placing her hoof on the stallion's bandage, causing him to wince in pain." I haven't met an apple orchard yet I can't handle!" She then realized where her hoof was and quickly pulled away chuckling sheepishly." Whoops, sorry. I'll take a bite out of this job by day's end!"

"Biting off more than you can chew is what I'm afraid of." The stallion said. Applejack gave him the eye.

"Are you sayin' I'm making a promise mah' legs can't keep?" Applejack asked suspiciously.

"Eyyup" He simply stated.

"Why of all the…this is your sister Applejack remember? The loyalist of friends, most dependable of ponies?" She said getting up in his face.

"But still only one pony. And one pony plus hundreds of apples doesn't add up." He said.

"Don't you use your fancy mathematics to mudder the issue. I said I could handle this harvest and I'm gonna prove it to you! I'm gonna get every last apple out of those trees this Applebuck season, ALL BY MYSELF!" She yelled. She then looked at the dozens of apple trees and gulped. The stallion then walked away as Applejack made her way towards the trees.

"Well, I better get kickin'. Those apples aren't gonna shake themselves out that tree." She then walked over to an apple tree full of apples. As she was about to buck it, a strong wind blew, knocking all the apples out of that tree. She didn't even need to turn around to know who did that.

"You do know you can't do this by yourself right?" Speed asked. AJ scoffed and turned around walking towards another tree, only to have its apples to fall again. She turned towards Speed who raised an eyebrow at her. She then took off sprinting towards and apple tree. Right before she got to the tree, Speed appeared in front of her looking disappointed. She growled quietly before trotting over next to Speed, then punching his right arm very hard, causing him to grimace.

"I don't need no fancy smancy wind voodoo to buck all these apples ya hear?" She asked turning towards Speed with an angry look, but softened when she noticed he was gritting his teeth very tightly and how tightly he shut his eyes. she was about to say something when he put his hand out and stopped her from getting any closer.

"OK _Applejack_." He said with venom surprising Applejack, not because of how he said it, but because he didn't call her AJ. "I get it, you don't want help apple bucking, so I'll stay out of your mane." He then ran away but much slower. She was about to call out until he shot into the sky and flew towards Ponyvile. She stood there watching before shaking her head and went back to apple bucking.

_Can't get distracted, gotta get to work._ She thought to herself.

Rainbow Dash was just lying on her back on a cloud relaxing the day away, until she heard some kind of rumbling. At first she thought her stomach was growling until she saw something over the horizon. A cloud of some sort was heading towards Ponyvile. She kept looking until she saw that dozens of cows were rushing towards the town.

"Stampede!" She shouted, flying away. The ponies below her had heard her cry. They all galloped around in a panic.

"Remain calm everypony! Everything is going to be just fine!" Mayor Mare said, not even believing her own words. The cows were getting closer and closer until suddenly they slowed down. The town looked in awe as Speed stood a couple of feet away from the cows. His hands were stretched out as if they were pushing against something. His feet were planted firmly in the dirt.

"There is no way you're getting past me you hear?" he yelled defiantly, then cried out in pain. His right arm was in great pain. "I'll deal with it later. Right now, I gotta figure a way to get these cows away from Ponyvile." Then he heard a familiar cry.

"Come on ya' varmints, git!" Applejack yelled. She pulled out her lasso and wrapped it around the lead cow and ran past it away from Ponyvile. The cow followed causing the other cows to follow it as well. Speed didn't let go until they were a good distance away and fell to his knees, clutching his arm. He stayed there, taking deep long breathes before finally getting up and walking towards the hill where Applejack was waiting, along with her pet dog Winnoa. Applejack then yelled again and raced off towards Ponyvile, Winnoa in tow. Speed slowly made his way over the hill to see Applejack being mobbed by ponies. Some ponies saw him and made their way over to him cheering. Speed, not wanting to deal with this right now, took off to the skies. The ponies were chanting his name as he flew over the town. He smiled and gave a two fingered wave before flying off, clutching his right arm tightly.

"Now to find Twilight, maybe she can fix my arm." Speed said.

Twilight was resting on her bed reading a rather large book until she heard a knock at her door.

"SPIKE! CAN YOU GET THAT?" She yelled downstairs.

"OK TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled back. He went towards the door to open it. When he opened it, it revealed a rather grumpy looking Speed. "Hey Speed. How's it going?" Spike greeted. Speed shrugged.

"Eh, could be worst. Can I see Twilight?" Speed asked. Spike was about to yell for Twilight until she suddenly appeared in front of Speed with wide eyes. Speed yelled as Twilight tackled him with a huge smile.

"Hi Speed! Are you here with more information?" Twilight asked excitedly before noticing she _really_ high in the air before she dropped suddenly towards the ground. "Owww. Speed what was…oh my." She said as she noticed Speed writhing in pain.

Need a hospital. Please?" Speed asked in annoyance while gritting his teeth. Suddenly…

_GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!_

Speed yelled very loudly while clutching his head which was in unimaginable pain. Twilight, seeing he was in a lot of pain, grabbed Speed with her magic and teleported out of the tree house and into the hospital. Suddenly she felt pain In her head to. Not because of her magic, but because of something else. She collapsed on the hospital floor, slowly blacking out.

"ARGGGG!" Speed cried out trying to grab his arm away. Inzane was looking down at him smiling.

"What's wrong Speed? Why are you crying? You know you can't feel pain here." Inzane taunted. Speed gritted his teeth.

"Sh-Shut up!" Speed yelled before feeling lots of pain again as Inzane tugged harder and harder. Speed's cry could be heard all across the pitch black void he and Inzane were in. However they were not alone. In the distance a purple flash occurred, revealing it to be Twilight. She groggily sat up and looked around in confusion before her eyes widened in surprise.

"What the? Where am I?" Twilight asked to no pony in particular. However, her question did not go unanswered as a terrifying scream rang out. She looked towards the source and saw something strange. It seemed that Speed was being attacked by…himself? Then Twilight recognized it as another hedgehog with similar looks to Speed. She didn't want to waste time thinking though. All she knew was that Speed was in pain and the other hedgehog was causing it. So with careful aim and precision and timing, along with a little luck, she fired a beam at the other hedgehog, striking him in the chest knocking him away from Speed who collapsed to the ground. All seemed still until a bright light flooded Twilight's eyes, causing her to shut them. When she opened them again, she seemed to be in a bed of sorts. She looked around and saw the pink walls of the hospital with light pouring in from the window, signifying it was still daytime.

"Oh, you're awake." Some pony's voice rang out. Twilight looked and saw a white pony with a pink mane wearing a nurse's outfit. "I was just checking on you and your friend. He seemed to had quite a tumble. He has one broken arm and that's about it. When I found you, you both were unconscious. Oh by the way, I'm Nurse Redheart." The pony known as Nurse Redheart said. Then moaning and groaning was heard outside.

"Ohhhhhh. What's that outside? Whatever it is, can you tell them to moan softer? I'm trying to comatose here." A groggy Speed said. Twilight shot out of bed and went to Speed's bed and hugged him.

"Oh Speed, I was so worried about you. Are you ok?" Twilight asked before noticing that Speed had an pained look on his face. Twilight quickly let go blushing.

"Aside from the _unbearable _pain in my arm, pretty good actually." Speed replied. More moaning was heard. Nurse Redheart sighed.

"I better go get that. You guys are allowed to leave but Speed, don't move your arm too much. I healed most of it with my magic, but you still can't move it around that much got it?" Nurse Redheart said. Speed nodded in understanding.

_Outside the hospital_

"Good grief Twilight. I get that you're being friendly but learn to control your hugs will ya?" Speed said in annoyance. Twilight looked down in embarrassment."Butttt…" Speed started causing Twilight to look up."It is nice to know that you care. So…thanks." He said smiling at Twilight. She smiled back.

"Just trying to be a good friend." Twilight explained. Then she heard something familiar, which caused her to widen her eyes. She facehoofed at the sound. "Not again." Then she heard a familiar cry.

"STAMPEDE!" Then a rainbow streak shot across the sky. Speed was about to take off until he noticed they were softer than before. He kept waiting and waiting until he saw the stampeders? Dozens of little bunnies were hoping towards town with Fluttershy above them trying to calm them while Applejack and her dog Wynona were in the midst yelling and barking at the bunnies. Speed simply facepalmed and lifted his good arm. The bunnies started floating and inch above the ground. Applejack frowned at Speed with weary eyes while Wynona barked at the floating bunnies with Fluttershy breathing a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank goodness. I was so worried that the bunnies would get away." Fluttershy said.

"What the hay Speed? I had them. Why didja' do that?" Applejack said while Wynona was barking.

"AJ, you were yelling at bunch of adorable baby bunnies. Care to explain that?" Speed said with annoyance while crossing his arms. Applejack just growled before trotting past him, Twilight, Fluttershy, and the bunnies with Wynona in tow.

"Ah got better things to do then deal with you fools." Applejack growled. Speed looked at Twilight with a confused look.

"*Sigh* She's been bucking apples for a long time." Twilight explained.

"AH yes I remember. I tried helping her this morning and what do I get? A broken arm that's what." Speed said sarcastically. Twilight's eyes widened.

"Wait, that's how your arm broke! I thought that other hedgehog..omph!" That last part was because she had stuck her own hoof in her mouth to silence herself but Speed had heard enough.

"Other hedgehog?" Speed questioned. Twilight smiled sheepishly." What are you talking about Twilight?"

"Oh what me? NOTHING! NOTHING AT AAAALLLLL!" Twilight lied. Speed narrowed his eyes at her. _Crud! Need a distraction! Need a distraction! Need a distraction! _"Well we should go see Applejack huh!?" Twilight said rather hastily. Speed closed his eyes before nodding.

"Yeah, she looked as tired as a woodchuck chucking wood all Spring season." Speed said. Twilight looked at Speed strangely.

"Really Speed? Really?" Speed shrugged." I think your hanging with Applejack wayyyy to long." Twilight said. Speed just chuckled. Then without warning, he picked Twilight up bridal style. "Speed? What are you-AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She yelled as Speed shot off towards Sweet Apple Acres with Twilight in his arms. Unbeknownst to them, a certain shy pegasus was red with fury and was glaring daggers at the pair.

"He is mine! Not yours, mine! I will not let you take him away from me!"

Applejack was bucking another tree causing few apples to fall from the tree. She bucked the rest of them out and move on until the next one until she felt a huge gust of wind. She turned around to see Speed carrying Twilight landing on the ground, the former wearing a big grin, the latter having a green face with a hoof over her mouth. She then swallowed it before slipping away from Speed's grasp. The duo walked over to Applejack who was wearing an annoyed expression.

"Before ya' say it, no. I'm not going to ask for help." Applejack said.

"Please Applejack, you need help. You look like you're about to pass out. Literally." Twilight stated. Applejack ignored her and went towards another tree filled with apples. Speed raced over to Applejack and put his hand in front of her.

"AJ, you need to let go of your stupid pride. From what I heard, you've made muffins that have been poisoning ponies, launching a certain pegasus into the sky causing her to crash, and terrorizing dozens of adorable baby bunnies." Speed stated. Applejack just moved past him.

"I told you no! Besides," Applejack said as she bucked the tree behind her." I done!" She pointed to the dozens of tree behind her barren with apples. Speed then turned his head and chuckled. He poked Twilight and pointed behind him. Twilight's eyes widened as she smiled nervously.

"Uh Applejack? Might want to look again." Twilight said mentioning behind her. Applejack looked in her direction and almost screamed. Behind the trio were even more apple trees. Applejack then collapsed.

"Now do you want our help AJ?" Speed asked.

"Yes pleeeeeaaasssseeee!" Applejack admitted.

"We're not taking no- wait what?" Twilight questioned. Applejack vigorously nodded her head up and down.

"Yes Twilight, Speed. Ah'm so tired. I'm so exhausted and hungry. Please, please help me?" Applejack begged. Speed and Twilight looked at each other and smiled.

"Hey Twi?" Speed asked, causing Twilight to look in his direction." May I have the honors? I've been meaning relieve some stress." Twilight looked at him quizzically before nodding. Speed then flew up and up until he was above the remaining dozens of apple trees. He put his hands out as if he was aiming at something with his hands.

"What in the world is Speed doing?" Applejack asked. Then a strong gust of wind started to gather in Speed's and compressed into a very tiny green ball of wind.

_COUP…._

"Uh Applejack? We better move." Twilight stated while backing away towards the barn.

_DE…_

"Yeah we should." Applejack stated nervously while also backing away until she and Twilight broke in a sprint towards the barn.

_BURST!_

Twilight and Applejack were just at the front doors of the barn until they were suddenly pushed up against the barn doors. The wind whipping at their faces caused them to close their eyes. When the wind finally started to die down, they made their way towards the top of the hill to see the ground littered with apples and leaves, somehow arranged in a neat pile. The apples being in the buckets and the leaves in one big pile.

"Ah, there we go. Nice and neat." Speed said while walking over to the girls dusting his hands.

"Tha-That's it? All I had to do was give my stupid pride and I could be done that fast?" Applejack asked in disbelief. She then frowned and walked over to Speed, who's smug expression slowly turned into nervousness, which immediately changed to surprised as Applejack gave him a really sincere hug. "Thank you. Thank you so much." She said while crying on Speed. Speed returned the hug, stroking her mane.

"No problem AJ." Speed said while pulling away. "No problem at all." Twilight then walked over to the duo smiling.

"Now AJ, you should go rest up. You've done enough today alright?" Twilight requested. Applejack nodded up and down before nuzzling Twilight and Speed and walking towards her house.

"Well, I think I'm done for the day. See you later Twilight." Speed said before flying away and waving. Twilight waved back.

"Bye Speed! Remember to rest your arm!" She called out. Speed kept flying and flying until he was sure he was out of earshot. The he inhaled deeply and…

_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_

The town then swore to this day that a mountain far in the distance just screamed.

She was ticked.

Very ticked.

Normally, she would be very happy and cheerful and always in a partying mood. But when she saw a certain hedgehog pick up a certain unicorn, she started to get suspicious. So she followed them. As she neared Sweet Apple Acres, she felt a huge gust of wind buffet her. When the wind died down she continued towards the farm until she found who she was looking for. And was very angry at the same time jealous. A certain apple farmer was hugging the hedgehog, _affectionately. _Her blood started to boil and her face started turning red. So she ran away from the trees into the Everfree Forest. When she was certain she was out of earshot, she stopped. Her mane turned flat. Her face turned red. She then looked towards the heavens and screamed…

_JEALOUSYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!1111_

_**PINKIE PIE**_

_**VS.**_

_**JEALOUSY**_

**There you go folks! Another chapter of Element of Freedom! I hope you enjoyed this one! I really had fun writing this one. By the way, free web cookies and a shout out to the first reviewer who got the two little but not so subtle Easter eggs I put in there!**

**As always this is Speed the Hedgehog…**

_**SIGNING OFF!**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Griffon the Brush Off part 1**

It was a nice day in Equestria. Ponies of all kinds were trotting around minding their own business. Among these ponies was a certain green hedgehog.

"I know AJ told me to get some rest, but I'm so bored!" Speed complained. He was currently healing up from his little stunt on the apple farm.

_You know, we could search for some emeralds._ Spark said in Speed's mind.

"Yeah we could but…the girls would probably get worried and start to freak out. Plus I don't know Equestria all that well so I wouldn't know where to look." Speed said. He kept walking until he noticed a rainbow streak flying past him. He followed the streak until a pink streak went past him, causing him to spin in confusion. He looked and looked until he smiled.

"Looks like my day just got interesting." Speed said. Then he ran after the two streaks until he caught up to the pink one. Now that he was matching it's speed, he saw that it was nne other than Pinkie Pie, Ponyvile's wildest party planner.

"Hiya Speedy! Watcha doin'?" Pinkie greeted.

"Just seeing what you were up to." Speed replied.

"Oh , I was just chasing Rainbow dash so she could help me with a prank." Pinkie explained.

"Need some assistance?" Speed asked.

"Sure! Thanks Speedy!" Pinkie said. Speed then accelerated and got in front of Rainbow, startling her but still keeping her speed.

"Speed? What're you doing here? I'm sort of busy." Rainbow snorted. Then all the sudden, the wind she felt while flying stopped. She looked around and saw she was frozen mid flight, wings all spread out. She looked down and saw Pinkie smiling up at her.

"What the? How did you…" She started until she saw a green aura around her. Speed's hand was coated in the same aura. She struggled and struggled until she grew tired.

"Now are you ready to help me?" Pinkie asked. Rainbow sighed before nodded, earning a giggle out of Pinkie. "Great! Ok Speed let her down." Speed did as asked and let go of Rainbow, letting her descend towards the ground. Pinkie then led Rainbow away with Speed in tow, curious about what this prank may be.

_30 minutes later_

"Ok a little to the left. Ok, now a little to the right." Pinkie shouted. Rainbow was moving a storm cloud in front of the Carousel Boutique in different directions due to Pinkie's request. She kept moving the cloud until she had enough.

"Pinkie!" Rainbow shouted startling Pinkie.

"Hehehe… I mean, that's good enough. Now on my signal." Pinkie said as she hid in a bush. Speed also flew in the air to avoid being seen. The doors opened to reveal to see Spike carrying a bunch of scrolls. Pinkie then waved her hoof frantically at Rainbow. Rainbow then 180'd and bucked the cloud, causing a huge boom as thunder rumbled, startling Spike and making him drop the scrolls. He then suddenly hiccupped, causing Pinkie, Rainbow, and Speed to laugh.

"Heheh, good one Pinkie, you always pull a fast one on me." Spike said while hiccupping between words. He then picked up a scroll, but hiccupped again, this time breathing green fire.

_In Canterlot, Princess Celestia's Study_

Princess Celestia was looking through notes until a scroll appeared in front of her and fell to the ground.

_Back at Ponyvile_

"Spike! Are you ok?" Pinkie asked in concern.

"Of course I am. Dragons are fireproof." Spike replied. He then picked up more scrolls, only to hiccup again and breathe more fire and sending more letters to Celestia. Rainbow and Pinkie erupted with laughter as Spike sent more and more letters.

"Hehehe, oh man! I can't of anything funnier then that!" Pinkie said. Speed then rubbed his chin before flying away quietly. When he was out of sight, he pulled out his thunder emerald and morphed into Spark.

"Oh really? Well I can." Spark said. Then he clapped his hands and a large boom rang out through out the land. The noised caused Pinkie and Rainbow to yelp. Then all of the sudden they started to hiccup, causing Pinkie to erupt with laughter and Rainbow to roll her eyes.

"Wow Speed! How did you do that?" Pinkie asked.

"Actually, it's not Speed right now. My name is Spark at the moment." Spark replied. Then he pulled out the wind emerald and transformed back into Speed.

"Hey that's pretty cool! You got to show me how to do that one day!" Rainbow exclaimed. Speed shook his head.

"Sorry Rainbow but it seems to only work for me." Speed explained. Rainbow frowned at first but then smirked.

"Well whatever. I make thunder way cooler than you do." Rainbow said.

"Hey Rainbow, do you want to pull some more pranks with me?" Pinkie asked. Rainbow pondered this for a second before shrugging.

"Eh sure, why not?" Rainbow replied.

"And Speed? What about you?" Pinkie asked. Speed shook his head.

"Nah, I gotta go feed Wind Waker then train with him, so see ya!" Speed said. Then flew towards the Everfree Forest.

"Bye Speed! Wait…who's Wind Waker? And why does he have to feed him?" Pinkie asked. Rainbow shrugged as she watched Speed fly off.

_Everfree Forest_

Speed landed in the middle of the forest. He looked around and when he didn't see anything, whistled loudly. Nearby a bush rustled then parted to reveal the young timberwolf Wind Waker.

"Hey boy, long time no see." Speed greeted. The wolf went up to him and licked his face. Then Speed pushed him away."OK now it's time to get serious. You ready?" Speed asked. Wind Waker leaped from him and got into a pouncing position.

"Let's get started!" Speed exclaimed. Then the two charged at each other and…

_Unknown Location_

_It's been so long since I've seen her. I wonder if she's changed at all…heh, what am I talking about? This is Dash I'm talking about! There's no way she'd change! Only one more day until I get there…hey, what's that shiny thing down there?_

The mysterious figure descended towards the ground to investigate what it saw. After walking around it finally found what was shining earlier.

_The heck? What idiot would leave a shining red gem here? This could be worth a fortune! Lucky me heheh._

Suddenly, the gem began to glow brighter and brighter, causing the figure to avert their eyes.

_Arghh! What is with this stupid thing! So bright! Argghhh!_

The area was brightly illuminated for a few seconds before dying down. The figure had smoke curling off their body and their eyes had now glowed red.

_Dash…Dash…DASH!_

**Hey everybody! Sorry for the long wait, again, for the 3****rd**** time in a row.**

***sigh***

**Anyways, sorry for the chapter being short but don't worry. It will lead up to something bigger I promise you that. Hopefully it won't take me to long to update. So, as always…**

_**This is Speed the Hedgehog…**_

_**SIGNING OFF!**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Helloooooooooo! This is Nicob, back with another episode of...PSYCH! Just kidding! This is really Speed here with another installment of EoF OR Element of Freedom. Last time, we saw Pinkie and Rainbow, accompanied by Speed pull a little prank, where Speed revealed Spark to the 2 ponies. Also, we see Speed and his loyal timberwolf Wind Waker begin training. And we witness a mysterious figure find an interesting red **_**"gem".**_** What could this mean for Speed? And how does this figure know Rainbow Dash? Find out now on Element of Freedom!**

**Element of Freedom**

**Griffin the Brushoff **

**Part 2**

"Huff…Huff…OK. I think that's enough for today." A weary Speed said while leaning against a tree. Wind Waker was perched next to him, looking exhausted as well. The trees around them when they began training were now just stumps that will take years to grow back. Grunting, Speed slowly stood up to fetch some wood to heal WW. _Lucky wolf. At lease you heal by eating wood. I heal by waiting and having to stand still. Argh! And now my arm is even worse because I didn't listen to AJ. Dang it._

Just then, Speed felt a weird presence in the nearby area. Then shortly afterwards, a bright red flash occurred, blinding Speed momentarily. When it died down, Speed stood there, trying to analyze what just happened. After thinking for a bit, he made his way back towards WW, picking up wood on the way.

_Ok…I have not a single clue what that was, but it must have to do with that presence I felt earlier._ Speed thought. He finally found WW and fed him the wood piece by piece."So Wind, what do you think that was earlier?" Speed asked his timberwolf. His response was greeted by his wolf snoring. He chuckled at the response. _Yeah, it is pretty late. Better start heading back._ Speed then started to hover. He said his goodbyes to WW and flew off towards the barn, still thinking about what happened in the forest.

_The next day…_

"SPEED!" A voice yelled, causing Speed to jump, literally putting his head through the ceiling. "Whoops! Heheh." A cheery voice laughed. Speed immediately recognized that voice.

"Good morning to you too Pinkie."Speed irritably greeted. He pulled his head out to see the pink mare. She then grabbed him and pulled out of the house and took him at break necks speeds to Ponyvile. "OK PINKIE! YOU CAN LET GO NOW!"Speed yelled. Pinkie then suddenly stopped and caused Speed to fly forward into an apple stand.

"Hey dweeb!" A voice called out to him. He looked up to see a creature with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion. "Next time, watch where you're going!" She yelled before walking off. _Rude._ Speed thought as he stood up and dusted himself off. He then walked over to Pinkie.

"Speed! I am so sorry! I didn't mean to do that."Pinkie apologized. Speed shrugged it off.

"No biggie. But who in the world was that grumpy mess?" Speed asked, pointing in a direction. Pinkie growled at the question.

"THAT was Gilda, a really big meanie!" Pinkie answered. Speed nodded in agreement.

"Yeah no kidding. Though, I swear I haven't seen her before and yet, I feel like I've seen her somewhere."Speed pondered until he drew a blank.

"And can you believe Rainbow Dash is friends with her?"Pinkie pointed. Speed recoiled in surprise.

"Really? Her and Rainbow are friends? Hard to believe." Speed said. Then he looked towards her, catching her eye. She growled back at him while walking until she bumped into a certain pegasus.

"HEY! Watch it!" Gilda yelled at Fluttershy. The shy mare had accidentally backed up into Gilda. "I'm walking her!" She yelled. Fluttershy had turned around to see who she walked into and tried to apologize.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, I was trying to-"

"Oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Why don't you watch where you're going dofus?" Gilda ranted, closing in on Fluttershy, making the mare back up and make her ducks fly away.

"B-B-But, i-I-" Fluttershy stammered. Gilda then took a huge intake of air until…

_ROARGGGGGGGGGGGGG!_

She roared at Fluttershy! The shy mare looked up in fear before running the other way and flew up into the sky.

"Ugh, please. All these lame ponies are driving me buggy. I gotta bail." Gilda said before flying off as well. Pinkie gasped in shock at what just transpired.

"She a grump, and a thief, and a bully! The meanest kind of mean meanie pants there is! I can take it, but no one, _**no one! **_Treats Fluttershy like that, right Speed?" She asked but no response came. "Speed?" She turned to look for her hedgehog friend, only to notice him clutching the table she was at so hard, cracks were appearing. He turned and noticed the look Pinkie was giving him and began to calm down.

"Yeah Pinkie, you're right. No one treats Flutters like that." Speed agreed. Pinkie nodded.

"I say we set her straight, _PINKIE PIE STYLE!" _Pinkie offered with a sinister grin.

_10 minutes later…_

"Hi there, welcome to the party!" Pinkie greeted. Currently, she was letting ponies into Sugercube Corner for a surprise party. Near a corner of the room was Fluttershy and Twilight.

"So Fluttershy," She said, "You've met Gilda right? How is she?" Fluttershy squeaked something about telling her later. Then the guest of honor finally arrived.

"What is this?" Gilda asked, "Who's lame birthday is it today?" Pinkie then came bouncing over to her.

"Actually, this party is for you! It's a 'Welcome to Ponyvile' party!" Pinkie explained. Gilda raised an eyebrow at this before smirking.  
'"Well…I guess one stupid party can't hurt." Gilda said before walking inside pushing ponies out of the way.

"Pinkie…"Speed asked from behind, "Why did you throw a party for Gilda? She yelled at Fluttershy!"Speed yelled before she silenced him.

"Just wait Speed, this will all work out fine." Pinkie persuaded. Speed sighed as he thought _This is going to end badly._

He couldn't have been more wrong. First Gilda ate some vanilla lemon drops, which turned out to be hotter than an oven! The griffin roared out fire as Pinkie used the flames to roast some marshmallows. When she went to get a drink, the punch she grabbed was in a dribble cup, meaning that all the contents spilled onto the floor. After she finally got a drink, Rainbow told her to open some presents. With a big grin, Gilda unwrapped the first present, which happened to be snakes in a can! After fixing her feathers, it was time for cake.

Since Gilda was the guest of honor, she blew them out, only for them to reignite! She tried over and over and over again until she heard everypony laugh. She glared at Pinkie Pie who looked away innocently. Then it was time for Pin the Tail on the Pony. Rarity was about to paly until Gilda shoved her out of the way and took the tail.

"Ok then Gilda, let's get started!" Pinkie said while Spike blindfolded her. She started to protest until Speed ran around her really fast, causing her to spin around. Pinkie tried guiding her to the pony, but being what she's been through today, the griffin went the opposite way Pinkie tried to show her. She kept walking until she tripped on some frosting, causing her to slide around the room into the storage. When she emerged, she covered in cake and confetti, with the pony tail hanging off her face like a mustache. Ponies all around began to laugh at the sight of the ridiculous griffin.

_Hahahah, look at her! Isn't she funny? Doesn't she look ridiculous?_

Gilda looked all around as everypony laughed at her. Then her eyes focused on Pinkie Pie, who was next to Rainbow Dash, cracking up. The sight got Gilda angrier and angrier until…

_GRAHHHHHHHHHHHH!_

"Is this your idea of a good time? I've never met a bunch of lame dweebs in all my life!" Gilda snapped before turning to Pinkie Pie, "Pinkie Pie…you! You are queen LAME-O with your _weak _little party pranks! Did you really think you could make me lose my cool?" Then she went over to Rainbow. ""Well, Dash and I have ten times the cool you dweebs would ever have, especially en times the cool you dweebs would ever have, especially _you _freak!" She said pointing at Speed. She then walked towards the door. "Come on Dash, we're leaving this place." Rainbow didn't follow at first. "Come on Dash! I said we're leaving!" Gilda yelled again.

Rainbow stood there before responding" You know Gilda, I was the one who set up those _'weak pranks' _at this party." She said catching Gilda by surprise while Pinkie just 'oohh'ed. "So I guess _I'm _queen lame-o!"

"C-Come on Dash, you're joshing me." Gilda said not wanting to believe her friend.

"Gilda, they weren't meant for you specifically, it was just dumb luck that you set them all off." Rainbow explained.

"I should've known! That dribbler cup had Rainbow Dash written all over it!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"No way! It was Pinkie Pie! She was the one who set up this party to trip me all up, to make a fool of me!" She said. Suddenly, Speed got tense as a certain presence filled the air. He was seeing something that no pony else could see. A large red aura made its way around Gilda.

"Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude! I thought a good party might turn that frown upside down." Pinkie stated.

"And you sure didn't need any help making a fool of yourself!" Rainbow yelled at her. Speed saw the aura get a little larger." You know, this isn't how I thought my old friend would treat my new friends. If being cool is all you care about, maybe you should got find some cool friends, someplace else." Rainbow said. Gilda's eyes darted back and forth before she closed them…only for them to open to reveal bright red eyes! The ponies gasped in shock as Gilda grabbed Pinkie by the neck, hoisting her up above her. Then she threw Pinkie outside, chasing after her. Speed immediately ran outside to see Gilda strangling Pinkie on the ground. Pinkie tried to move but was powerless against Gilda. Nearby unicorns tired to get her off Pinkie using magic, but she seemed immune to it. Not even Twilight could move her and she was Ponyvile's strongest unicorn! Pinkie's struggle got weaker and weaker as she started to black out.

_Is this really the end? Am I…never gonna throw a party again? _ Pinkie thought as her eyes started to close.

_Aero Blast!_

Suddenly Pinkie felt the weight on top of her disappear as she heard Gilda yell and a huge gust of wind fly past her. Then she felt herself being lifted up. She opened up her eyes and saw Speed staring at her with a concerned look on her face before it turned into a smile. Pinkie felt overjoyed at being held by him and hugged him tight.

"Speed! Y-you saved me. T-thank you so much!" She said while crying. Speed hugged her back. 

"No problem Pinkie. There was no way I would let her sit there and hurt you like that." Speed said before putting her down, much to her disappointment. Then they heard a yell and saw Gilda land in front of them. Speed sent Pinkie back to the others to keep her safe.

"You jerk! Why did you get in the way? This has nothing to do with you!" Gilda yelled. Speed shook his head.

"On the contrary Gilda, this has everything to do with me, for two reasons actually. One; you were mean to my friends Pinkie and Fluttershy. You even went as far to hurt Pinkie and almost kill her! Now for reason number two; you have something that belongs to me." Speed stated.

"What the hay are you talking about? I don't even know you!" Gilda exclaimed.

"That may be true, but you do know something about these." Speed said as he pulled out his two emeralds. Gilda's red eyes widened at the sight. Suddenly, a red light shone in one of Gilda's wings. She pulled it out and saw it was that red emerald she picked up earlier.

"Now do you see what I mean? Look, I need these emeralds Gilda. They are very important to me and they hold great power. Please, can I have the one you have?" Speed asked. Gilda pondered this before walking over to him, emerald in talon.

"Are you serious about this whole emerald thing?" Gilda asked. Speed nodded. Gilda sighed before putting her talon out. "Well I…don't CARE!" She yelled as she punched Speed in the face, sending him flying into Sugar Cube Corner."I don't give a damn about your problems! I found this fair and square. And now that I know there are more out there, I could become even stronger! MWUAHAHAHA!" Gilda yelled. Speed hopped out from the rubble while dusting himself off.

"Well I wanted to do this the diplomatic way, but it seems I have no choice." Speed said while getting into a fighting stance.

"You wanna party Gilda? Then let's party!" Speed exclaimed.

Gilda launched herself at Speed to punch him in the face again, only for Speed to slide under her. While she was unguarded, Speed launched another Aero Blast at her stomach. The attack landed, sending her high into the sky. She regained her balance quickly as Speed came towards her. He launched a furious right hook which she caught. Speed was surprised by this and Gilda took her chance and punched him in the face again, not letting him go so she could punch him repeatedly. Then after one more punch, she threw him towards Ponyvile. He slid against the ground before righting himself. Just in the nick of time too.

Gilda was about to kick him into the dirt again but Speed spun around her. Then he rushed at her headfirst. She lunged forward, only for him to spin around her again. Then she turned and lunged again only for her to trip up. Suddenly every colt and stallion yelled out while Speed leaned against them.

_BERRY SANDERS! BERRY SANDERS!_

Gilda quickly got up and shot a fireball at Speed, only for it to disperse right in front of him.

"RRGHHH! Why won't you just die?!" Gilda yelled. Speed smirked before disappearing and reappearing in front of her. 

"Because Gilda…you hurt my friends. You took out your anger on ponies who are important to me. You tried to kill Pinkie Pie. And I. will. Never. FORGIVE YOU!" Speed yelled before throwing a hard right straight to Gilda's beak. The impact shook ground a little bit as Gilda was sent red emerald flew out of her wing and landed in front of Speed.

He picked it up, only to feel pain between his eyes, causing him to close his eyes tightly to make the pain go away. When it finally subsided, he opened his eyes only to see a fist come towards him. Acting fast he rolled to the side and tried to get a better look of his assailant. Again he looked just like Speed, only this time his fur was red without any streaks or highlights. He turned towards Speed with a snarl. The hedgehog lunged again at Speed. Speed countered by lunging back at him with his fist. The two collided and the ground around them shook. They separated and scanned each other.

After a while Speed broke the silence by asking, "Ok, who the heck are you?" The hedgehog only responded in a grunt. Then he walked over to Speed and tapped his forehead. Images rushed through his mind like with Spark. Only this time, it showed the two constantly fighting. When they finally settled down he opened his eyes to find himself in front of a weakened Gilda. then a voice rang through his mind.

_If you want my help, give me a call when you remember._ Speed was certain the voice had come from that hedgehog. Suddenly, Gilda roared as she took to the sky. When she finally stopped, she formed a ball of fire. Then as she held it up, it grew and grew until it looked like the ball was eclipsing the sun. Many ponies shrieked in fear as they ran away from the fire ball. Speed looked up in horror as Gilda threw it. The edges of buildings started to catch on fire. He looked left and right and saw his friends trembling. Instinctively, he ran over in front of them to shield them, though he felt like it wouldn't do much. He clenched his hand in anger as he saw the threat come even closer.

_You know…you could use my power…_A voice in his head tempted. He instantly recognized the voice as Inzane. _No way in chaos would I ever accept your help!_ Speed thought back. He blocked out Inzane and tried to remember the red hedgehog's name. But unfortunately he kept on drawing blanks. He cried out in anger as he couldn't figure it out.

_You're weak. _Another voice said. _And here I thought you would a least try._ Speed couldn't respond. Then the voice yelled_ HOW LONG ARE YOU JUST GONNA STAND THERE AND THINK!? _Speed stammered something but the voice ignored it._ You're just gonna let that thing destroy this place? Destroy your friends?_ Speed did respond to this._ NO! Of course not! I just can't think- _The voice interrupted _Then stop thinking!_ Speed was surprised. _It doesn't matter how you do it, just make sure you do it! If protecting your friends is all that matters, then screw thinking and act!_ Speed then stood there, contemplating what the voice just said. For some reason that sounded very familiar. Then he smirked as he remembered who said that all the time. He could see the red hedgehog smirking._ Took you long enough eh Speed?_ Speed took a step forward. He looked at the sphere of destruction in front of him.

"It doesn't matter whether or not I have a plan. It doesn't matter if I get hurt from it. All that really matters" He said while clenching his red emerald" is that I GET THE JOB DONE!" He then flew towards the fire ball. Everypony gasped as he drew closer and closer. Right before he came in contact with it, he shouted one name…

"_ASURA!"_

Then all went quiet except for the fire ball's crackling and popping. Tears started to form in the mane six's eyes. They put their heads down in sadness until…

_GRAHHHHHHHH!_

The fire ball exploded and vanished into the air as a figure emerged. It was the same red hedgehog, only he had six arms! Four of them were growing from his back. He lifted his head to show bright, red eyes which seemed to have more rage in them than Gilda.

**(Play One Step Closer-Linkin Park)**

Asura wordlessly rushed at Gilda. She was surprised but was fast enough to catch hid two fists, however it wasn't enough. He used all four of his back fists and crushed Gilda's head between them, stunning her for a second. He then unleashed a fury of fists on her, hitting every part of her body repeatedly over and over again. Then with one more punch he knocked her back towards the ground. She landed with a crash and was in a small crater. She dazedly looked and saw Asura standing over her with an enraged look. He then grabbed her and pulled her out with one of his hands and held her in front of him.

"Hey Gilda?" Asura asked. Gilda looked at him with difficulty and responded with a groan. He then jerked her in front of his face getting her full attention."Never mess with _any_ of my friends because if I see you lay a _feather_ on them, you will feel my full wrath." Her eyes widened in fear at the threat. He then threw her into the sky. When she reached her full momentum, she succumbed to the force of gravity. As she was falling Asura stomped his feet and developed a fiery aura around him. Then a strange symbol appeared in front of him. Then when Gilda fell in front of the symbol he yelled only two words…

_FULL BURST!_

He launched all six of his fists at her, sending her flying into the sky, becoming nothing but a little twinkle. He then stood straight and reverted back into Speed. Then he felt the ground rushing towards him as he closed his eyes, however the impact never came. He opened his eyes slightly and noticed the purple aura around him. He didn't need to look to see who it was. All he needed to do was smile.

"Thanks Twilight…" He said before finally blacking out.

_3 Hours later_

Speed woke up on a couch with a blanket on him. He then overheard some talking.

_Pinkie Pie! No way! Are you serious?_

_Yes Twilight. As serious as I've ever been._

_Well, I mean I can't get mad at you, but will you do? How do you know this will work out?_

_I don't Twilight. All I know is that I feel this way about him and nothing is going to change that._

_What are they talking about?_ Speed thought. He then began to black back out but before he did, he heard clopping coming towards him.

_Speed I'm not sure if you can hear me, but I want to tell you, that you've done a lot for me today. You risked your own life against Gilda. You saved me from her wrath, I mean you probably would've done that anyway but I still appreciate it sooo much! So all I'm trying to say is…thank you. Thank you so much Speed._ Speed then felt something moist and warm press against his cheek and finally blacked out smiling.

**There it is everybody. I told you last chapter would lead to something big. So it seems we have some new powers for Speed don't we? And he got a little bit of action at the end. Next episode, we will have a familiar face make an appearance on Element of Freedom.**

**Also I made a poll but it seems no one voted on it so I'm going to make another one on June 7****th****. So please vote. **

**So on that note don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Review.**

_**This is Speed the Hedgehog…**_

_**SIGNING OFF!**_


	10. Chapter 10

The day started just like any other day in Ponyville. The sun rose slowly while the moon set. The animals singing their own song. All was calm and peaceful. That is until...

"Come one, Come all! Witness the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria, the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Speed slowly began to open his eyes as rays of sunshine poured through the window. He sat up only to feel an immense amount of pain.

"You shouldn't try to get up yet. You haven't fully recovered after yesterday." a voice said. Speed looked over to the side and saw Twilight there looking concerned. Speed tried to move again but once again felt a great pain in his back.

"Ah yeah, that's right. I almost forgot about yesterday." Speed says as he recounts the events involving him and Gilda. He also remembers using the red emerald that Gilda had to turn into Asura and finally defeat her. _I guess growing four more arms can do a number on your back._

"Well, since you're up and probably not going to listen to me anyways, how about you join me and Spike at the table for breakfast?" Twilight offered.

"Sure! Thanks a lot Twi." Speed accepted.

"Breakfast is ready!" Spike yelled from the kitchen. Immediately launched from the couch to the table. Twilight shook her head in amusement as she trotted over to the kitchen.

"Woooww! These look delicious!" Speed exclaimed as he drooled while staring at the golden brown pancakes. He reached for one only to have his wrist slapped by a wooden spoon.

"Not yet Speed! Twilight gets first dibs ok?" Spike scolded. Speed gained a dejected look as Twilight chuckled. After everyone got settled they were about to dig in until

_THUMP THUMP THUMP!_

"*sigh* I'll get it." Spike said annoyedly. As he reached for the doorknob, it suddenly opened and in walked Pinkie Pie who expression brightened up as soon as she saw Speed.

"Hiya everyone! How are your mornings so far?" Pinkie asked.

"Oh well-"

"Good for you Twilight! How about you Speedy?" Pinkie asked ignoring and annoying Twilight.

"Pts pwerrty gmmd." Speed said with his mouth full, earning a glare from Twilight. He swallowed his food with a sheepish grin. "I mean, it's pretty good."

"Great! And where's Spike?" Pinkie asked. They then heard the door close revealing a rather flat Spike. Speed went over to him and laid him on the floor. Then he put his finger in Spike's mouth. In seconds he was reinflated to his normal self.

"Thanks Speed." Spike said. Speed simply gave him a thumbs up.

"Well Pinkie, what brings you here?" Twilight asked.

"Oh right! Rainbow wanted to get you so you can "teach somepony a lesson". Haha, silly Rainbow, doesn't she know that's what school is for?" Pinkie joked. But right now Twilight was making her way outside. As she walked out, she heard a loud cheer in the distance.

"Well I'm not sure what Rainbow needs but I should go investigate. Spike, Speed, come on." Twilight said. The two looked at each other before nodding. Then all of them went towards the source of the noise.

\- "TRIXIE! TRIXIE! TRIXIE!"

"What's going on here?" Speed asked.

"Guys! Over here!" Rainbow yelled at them. They slowly but surely made their way through the large crowd. When they finally got to the front, they noticed that something was off. Rainbow's mane was slightly frizzled and her flank had a black patch. Applejack was hog tied and had an apple stuffed up her mouth. And Rarity, well he didn't even see Rarity which means something bad must've happened to her as well.

"What the...who did this to you?" Speed asked.

"Hahahahaha!" a voice laughed. Speed turned to the source of the voice and saw a light blue unicorn with a lighter shade of blue mane. She also had purple eyes and a purple hat and cape with stars on it. Her cutie mark was a wand with a star tip with a blue fabric wrapping around it.

"Who are you? Did you do this to my friends?" Speed asked.

" I am the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria! A unicorn whose magic cannot be matched by anypony! I am the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!" she said as fireworks flashed behind her.

"We get it! You only said it like five times already!" Rainbow said in a sour tone.

"Girls what happened to you and where's Rarity?" Speed asked as he untied Applejack and took the apple out of her mouth.

"We got tired of er' bragging and decided to do something about it and...it didn't work out so well." Applejack said embarrassed

"So that's why we called Twilight over. Now show her what real magic is Twi!" Rainbow yelled catching Trixie's attention.

"Well well well. It seems we have another challenger. So is it true? You think You can best the Great and Powerful Trixie?" she questioned. Twilight was shocked from this.

" What me? Nononono, I'm not-I don't think I'm better than you. I'm not better than anypony!" Twilight stuttered.

"What are you doing Twi? You know you're better than her!" Rainbow asked.

"Yeah, yer' the most powerful unicorn I've met thus far. You got nothing to worry about." Applejack encouraged.

"What's wrong Twilight? You know you can do way better than her at magic!" Spike asked. Twilight slowly started to back away as her friends got closer to Her and she began to breathe quickly as her heart beat faster and faster. Then she yelped when a hand was placed on her shoulder.

"Twilight what's wrong?" Speed asked. Twilight stood there silent until she suddenly took off towards her home as she ignored the stares everypony was giving her. Her friends stood there in shock at what just happened. Then they heard laughter coming from Trixie.

"Well, it seems that she abandoned you. At least she recognised that she is not anywhere close to matching my greatness. Once again it still is true that Trixie is the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria!" she yelled causing the fireworks to go off. The crowd cheered as the others looked down in dismay.

"Twilight..." Speed said silently as he looked off in her direction. Then with a glare he turned back to Trixie. His quills flashed black and his eyes went red for a second before he took off towards Twilight.

When he arrived at her home, he saw that she was sitting there picking at her unfinished pancakes. After readying himself, he knocked on the door.

"We're closed sorry. Come back tomorrow." she said dejectedly.

"Twilight it's me. Speed." he said. There was a moment of silence before the door slowly opened. Speed walked in to where she was sitting.

"Hey Speed." she greeted morbidly.

"Twilight, what was that back there? That wasn't like you. And you know you're better than Trixie so why did you run?" Speed questioned. She was silent for a moment before answering.

" It was because I, was afraid." She answered.

"Twilight, you know you should not be afraid to get on stag-"

" Not like that!" she yelled, startling him slightly. Then she sighed. " I ran because I thought that if I do show off my power, that every pony would think I was trying to show off like Trixie and then they wouldn't want to be my friends anymore." she explained.

Speed sat there looking at her before he started to chuckle before it erupted in outright laughter. Twilight looked at him strangely for a while. Speed saw this and stopped laughing but kept his smile.

"Twilight, you shouldn't be scared of that!" Speed stated.

"But-"

"Listen. I understand where you're coming from. You don't want them to think differently of you I get it. But trust me, that will never happen." Speed assured her.

"But how can you be so sure?" she asked.

"Simple. Because I know them and I know you. And I know that they all care about you and know you would never want to be a show off like Trixie. They're your friends Twilight, I'm sure if you explain to them that everything will be ok." Speed answered. Twilight thought about this for a little while and realized that Speed was right. When she became an element of harmony, they sti treated her as one of their own and not some sort of princess.

"Speed...you know what? You're right! They _**are **_my friends! And I'm their friend! I'm sure they would understand if I just explained it to them." Twilight exclaimed. _I just said that. _Speed thought.

"Well now what are you gonna do now?" Speed asked.

"When I see my friends I'm going to apologize to them because I should've known better. And then I'm going to right my wrongs by showing Trixie just what I can I do!" Twilight said confidently.

"Sounds good to me." Speed replied.

"But first, I'm going to re-organize all of these books and you're going to help me Speed!" She declared.

"Hehehe...wait WHAT!?" Speed said in surprise. _I think you may have encouraged her a bit too much don't you think_? said Spark in Speed's mind. _Ya' think? Aww man... _Speed sighed.

_Many, Many books later..._

"Uggg...my back..." Speed complained while lying face down.

"I think that's all! Great job Speed!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Woo..." he said. He then picked himself up off the floor.

"Well Speed, I think we deserve some cake!" Twilight declared.

"Woohoo!" Speed actually exclaimed happily. He was about to run to Sugar Cube Corner until...

AN: so many interuptions

_Growwwar!_

"Dang it! What now?" Speed asked. He opened the door to see two colts running towards something. Then he saw Spike run in his direction.

"Twilight, Speed! Help!" Spike yelled as he ran inside. Speed watched Spike run inside and turned around to see stars in his face. Then the stars bowled past him towards those two Colts. He rubbed his eyes and looked again and saw that he was not on drugs. He made the beast out to be some sort of bear that looked like it had the universe on its fur.

"Ok, obviously that's not good. Better check it out up close." Speed said before chasing the beast. When he found it again, he saw it stalking towards Trixie's stage where the two colts were. He saw them bang on the door until she came out without her cloak and hat. She looked up and saw the bear and squealed in fright.

"Oh boy...this cannot end well can it?" Speed asked rhetorically to himself. Trixie then created a small cloud over the bear and made it rain. The bear simply ignored it and kept walking forward. Then,she used the cloud and zapped the bear's behind. It obviously felt that and did not like it. Not one bit. The beast roared in rage and charged forward.

"Crap!" Speed yelled before he flew ahead of the bear. He landed in front of the two colts and Trixie.

"What the...get out of the way you rat!" Trixie yelled.

"Hey! I'm not a rat!" he yelled before he stopped the bear with his hands," I'm a hedgehog!" he then pushed the bear back using his wind power." So you wanna tussle?" He asked before He pulled out his red emerald and transformed into Asura." Lets tussle."

**Play-Light em up- Fallout boys**

The beast charged again before being stopped again by Asura. Then he grew four arms from his back and grabbed the beast snout and picked him up and threw him back a few feet. The beast roared and grabbed some chunks of stone from beneath him and threw it at Asura. He easily smashed the stones and charged. He pulled back his entire right side and punched the bear in the face three times. The force of it was so powerful that it actually went airborne. Asura followed up by flying up with it and flew straight into its stomach and sent it back to the ground. He landed shortly after.

"Ha! Is that really all you-"suddenly, Asura reverted back into Speed."got?"

**Stop playing music**

While Speed was confused, the bear charged again and swiped him into a building causing the building to collapse on him.

"But how?" Speed asked. _Because you idiot! You just got my power yesterday!_ _And in case you haven't noticed, you're still injured! _Asura yelled from his mind. The bear stomped down him but luckily he was able to back away from being squashed.

"Speed!" Twilight's voice rang out from behind him. He turned towards her to see that her horn was charged. " Watch out, I got this." she said confidently.

She began to let her magic flow from her horn and go towards the bear. As it drew closer, Speed swore he saw music notes in it. The magic closed around the bear and circled him. Speed noticed that the bear started to get drowsy, but it still wasn't falling. Then, at the same time Twilight cast her magic on a jug shaped object filled with water. After dumping the water, she brung the jug over to the barn and ran it through. After many cos noises, she brought the now full jug with milk over to the bear. Once more she amplified her magic to pick up the bear. Suddenly, the bear fell but was suspended in mid-air again. Twilight looked over to Speed to see him using his wind power to hold the bear. Twilight flashed him a smile as he gave her a thumbs up. Then with their powers combined, they floated the bear all the way into the deep parts of the Everfree Forest.

Then, as soon as the bear was gone, the two of them heard cheering from behind them as the crowd came towards them. Cheers were spread all around the two.

"Twilight!" a voice called. Twilight and Speed turned and saw the mane 6 along with Spike rushing towards them. They all gathered in a group hug but part away shortly.

"That was amazing Twilight! I never knew you were _this _good at magic!" Spike complemented.

"And Speed, when you held your own against that Ursa Minor was simply amazing!" Rarity exclaimed. Speed sweat dropped at this statement. _That was an Ursa Minor? I hate to see what an Ursa __Major __would look like! _Speed thought.

"Well I had to in order to save Trixie, Spike,and those two Colts. Speaking of which, where is Trixie?" Speed asked.

"This is not over!" she called out from behind them. "This is not the last you'll see of the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!" she yelled before dropping a smoke bomb and running off, not without an em_bear_assing trip along the way.

**AN**: I'm so sorry...

" You know, that may not be the last we'll see of her, but I have a feeling she'll learn know when not to open her fat mouth next time eh?" Speed laughed. The others laughed along with him.

" Well this calls for a celebration! How about we all eat at Sugar Cube Corner on me!" Pinkie offered. As soon as Pinkie said that, Speed took off at a breakneck pace towards the bakery.

"Finally fooooddd!" he yelled on his way there. The others followed behind at a slower pace.

"I hope he doesn't eat as fast as he runs. Otherwise Pinkie, he'll put you out of business." Twilight pointed out.

"Oh no! You're right!" Then she took off as well." Speed wait for me!" The others laughed at their friends crazy antics as they followed the speedy duo.

**I am so sorry. To all of those who actually still read this, I am truly sorry for taking so long. I have no excuses for being this tardy. I am truly ashamed.**

**...**

**...**

**But on happier notes I'm not dead at least! But seriously I will see to it that I am never this slow again and if I go silent to give you a little update on my whereabouts. For now I hoped you enjoyed this chapter of Element of Freedom and as always,**

_**This is Speed the Hedgehog**_

_**SIGNING OFF!**_


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello everybody and welcome to another chapter of Element of Freedom. This chapter is going to stray from the main storyline of MLP and mostly focus on Speed's day. Hope you enjoy!**

_**Speed's Conflicts**_

We join Speed on Twilight's couch in his sleep. He sleeps peacefully in the quiet least, that's what it seems. But every now and then you see him twitch and mumble in his sleep. What seems to be bothering him? Let's find out shall we.

_The same dream, the same place. Nothing ever changes_ Speed thought. Currently, he was walking on a white path in an empty black void. The path seems to never end but he knows better. He knows that _he_ would be waiting for him at the end every time. This time was no different than the others. As he kept walking he noticed a black and red door at the end of the path. He casually walked up to it and opened it calmly. When he opened it, a large gust of wind blew past his face with lots of force but didn't faze him the least. He walked inside and the door closed behind him. There he spotted him.

"Well, you took your sweet time getting here didn't ya'?" Inzane taunted. Speed didn't respond because he knew that would humor him. Then again, anything Speed did humored him. Speed thrusted his hand out at Inzane. Wind started to gather around his hand and transformed into a silver sword with green veins running through it like blood. Inzane smirked at this and copied Speed. Red wind this time gathered around,his hand and transformed into a black sword with red veins.

"You know Speed, this is getting pretty repetitive. Don'tcha' think?" Inzane taunted. "I mean by now you should know that fighting me every night isn't going to stop me,it's only going to slow down my freedom." Speed stayed silent and readied himself." But I understand I mean you wouldn't want me to hurt your little friends would you? Especially Pinkie, or AJ, or maybe even _Fluttershy?" _ At that Speed charged at Inzane at mach speeds. But with him being Speed's opposite, he block the attack easily causing a shockwave to ring out.

"Don't you _dare_ lay a finger on any one of my friends. Especially **Fluttershy!" ** Speed said in anger.

"Hey, now we're getting serious! I like that!" Inzane exclaimed. The two clashed again, this time Speed sending Inzane in the air. He caught himself and stood there hovering. He smirked at Speed. Then he charged energy in his blade. Speed did the same thing and charged his blade. Then the two launched their separate attacks.

_Air Slash!_

_Psycho Slash!_

The two attacks clashed and created a smokescreen. Speed immediately dispersed it and saw that Inzane wasn't in the same spot. The silently Inzane appeared behind Speed to sneak attack him. Speed sensed him and back flipped over Inzane and swung downwards but Inzane was able to block it. The backed away from each other to ready themselves for another clash. Suddenly, a blue laser appeared from out of nowhere and blasted Inzane back. Speed was surprised by this but didn't waste this opening. He charged while Inzane was staggered and cut across his chest diagonally.

"Tch, cheater." were his last words as he faded into black. Speed looked up and saw Luna descending in front of him.

"Hello there hedgehog. I hope you did not mind my intervention in your fight." Luna greeted.

"Not at all Luna." Speed said as kneed down and rose." But why are you in my dream?" he asked.

"I've come to ask you to see me and my sister tomorrow at noon. Can you make it?" Luna asked.

"Sure, tell Celestia I'll be there." Speed said with a thumbs up. Luna nodded and started to take flight.

"Then I shall see you tomorrow Speed." Luna said while flying away into the darkness. Then a bright light began to flood Speed's eyes. After dying down, he noticed that he was now in a green pasture. He looked around confused until he heard a voice. He looked to his left and right and saw his red fire emerald and his yellow lightning emerald. And then 5 more black emeralds swirled around him. Then the emeralds flew away over a hill out his sight. He followed the emeralds and saw that 6 hedgehogs were waiting for him. He saw Spark and Asura and four hedgehogs that looked to be made out of shadows. They reached out to him and he reached back. And right before they made contact, a bright flash once again flooded Speed's eyes.

When Speed opened his eyes again, he knew that he was awake this time. He looked out the window and saw the sun was almost right above him. He knew that it was almost noon. So he got up and stretch and yawn. He saw that Twilight was busy studying while Spike was taking a nap.

"Hey Twi," he called, gaining her attention," I'm gonna head out for a bit ok?"

"Ok sure Speed." Twilight answered. He nodded and climbed up the stairs and opened up the window. Then he used his wind power and flew off towards Canterlot. Due to his super speed, he made it there in a matter of minutes. He then slowed down and descended to the front gates of the castle. He saw two guards and walked up to them.

"Hey, I need to speak to the princesses. Can I go in?" he asked. The guards looked at each other and nodded before one guard made his horn glow. It stayed like that for a couple of seconds until the glow died down.

"Ok, you're allowed to enter." the guard said. They opened the doors for Speed and let him in. Speed entered and saluted the guards on the way in. When he finally made it to the throne room, he saw the Princesses sitting on their thrones. They seemed to be in a heated discussion about something.

"Luna, we need to be concerned! It could get out of hand at any point in time!" Celestia pointed out.

"I think you're just being paranoid sister! Just because it happened to me doesn't he'll lose control. Even in his sleep he fights! And besides we have bigger problems to discuss!" Luna retorted back.

"I'm not being paranoid, I'm just being cautious. We don't know how long he can keep fighting!" Celestia pointed out.

"He's been fighting for years as far as we know! Why would he just suddenly stop?" Luna asked.

"Because now he has more things that can used against him!" Celestia answered. Speed Then cleared his throat to get their attention. The two sisters immediately stopped their argument and turned towards Speed. Celestia gave Luna a look that said 'we'll discuss this later'. Then she turned back to Speed.

"Welcome Speed. Nice to see you again. I hear that you've been in some tough battles of recently." Celestia said. Speed nodded his head.

"Yeah, there have definitely been some close calls lately. But with my friends help I was able to make it through." Speed stated while smiling. Celestia smiled,but then gained a serious look.

" Well now on to business. Speed we want to talk about your Element of Harmony." Celestia started out. Speed nodded and asked them talk away. " Well, in the land of Equestria, there was a powerful unicorn named StarswirI the bearded. He wrote many books on the magic of Equestria. This includes the Elements of Harmony. Everything he knew about the Elements were recorded in a book that my pupil currently possess. In that book it told about all six elements and how they each represent what it means to be a true friend , but never once did it ever mention a _seventh_ element. Your element of Freedom has never been heard of. So can you explain as to how this occurred." Celestia questioned. Speed sat there and thought for a second before answering.

"To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I can explain it." Speed answered. " but based on the information you told me, I seem to represent a friend that doesn't try to hold you down. A friend that is ok with letting you have your own opinions and not have ill feelings towards you. At least, that's what I think." Speed told them honestly. Luna smiled at Celestia and saw that she wasn't smiling but rather stuck in deep thought for a few moments.

"Ok, that would seem to explain some things. Thank you Speed but in another topic. Who is Inzane?"Celestia asked. Speed flinched at the question. _How does she know about Inzane? _Speed thought. And as if she was reading his mind she said," Last night, Luna told me about the mysterious hedgehog. Now care to explain?"

Reluctantly, Speed said"Well, are you sure you want to hear about him? It might be a waste of your time." Celestia just stared at him. He sighed."Alright well, where do I begin?"

_**Mobius, 6 months earlier.**_

_I don't really remember much but here's what I recall. _

_One day, me and Sonic were just running around the city like usually, and he asked a question:_

_"So any luck Speed?" Sonic asked. I replied_

_"No not yet. I've been looking in tons of temples and ruins, but I haven't found a single thing!"_

_"Well don't sweat it dude. I'm sure we'll find something soon." Sonic reassured me. But I didn't believe him._

_"I'm not so sure anymore Sonic. I mean we've been around the world so many times and yet..."_

_"So you're just gonna give up?" Sonic asked me. I didn't respond because I didn't know what to do."Well that won't be so bad. I mean what if your life before was terrible? I think that it might be wise to just stop." That's when I just stopped running. Sonic noticed this and came back to what was up._

_"What? You're just gonna let me quit like that? I thought you might give me some encouraging words but you just want me to give up!?" that's when my fur started to got black and red and my eyes were shifting between blue and red until they finally settled on red. _

_"I'm just saying that maybe this is all just a big waste of-" I cut him off by punching him square in the jaw, sending him flying back. He looked at me in shock at my actions. My breath became heavier and my fist clenched tightly. Then with a big breath I let go an enormous roar. Then after that, I blacked out and when I came to,Sonic was on the ground on my feet as the area around us was now destroyed. Then I heard a vo8ce in my head. A voice that still haunts me to this day. And it said,_

_**My name is Inzane...and I am your worst nightmare!**_

When Speed finished his tale he looked at the princesses and saw shocked look on their face. But he wasn't surprised as he expected this to happen. After a couple moments of silence, Celestia cleared her throat to address him.

"Well it seems you have a great darkness and yet, you are able to hold him back now?" Celestia asked. Speed nodded his head.

"By fighting him in my mind each night, he gets weaker and weaker but only for so long. If I were to lose a fight or not fight at all he would be closer to being free. And if that were to happen..." Speed shuddered at the idea.

"Well what we are concerned about is, will you be able to keep this up for long?" Celestia asked.

"Hopefully I can. I mean if I can keep my emotions under check then everything should be ok." Speed answered. Celestia frowned at this but then gained a slight smile.

"Well as long as you can keep him under wraps then things should be fine right?" Celestia asked. Speed gave her a thumbs up. "Good. Well then you are free to go Speed. That's all I wanted to ask about."

"Ok then. It you need anything princesses send a letter or find me in my dreams. See ya'!" Speed said. Then he ran to the door he came through, gave a salute to the guards, and took to the sky. As soon as he was out of earshot, Celestia got off her throne and went to her living quarters.

"Sister, where are you going?" Luna asked in concern. Celestia put on a fake smile and looked back towards Luna.

"Oh, just getting some rest is all. No need to worry about me." Celestia half-lied. In truth she was tired but also she was thinking about it the decision she was about to make be the right one.

_Later that night in Twilight's house._

It was now dark out and Twilight was still up doing her final checkup for the night before heading to bed. Then from out of nowhere, Spike burped green fire in his sleep and a scroll fell out. She found this to be interesting as she walked over to it.

"Huh? That's strange, the Princess never sent me a letter a night before. Well better see what it says. It could be important." she observed. She then unraveled the scroll and looked to see what it said. Almost immediately, she wished she hadn't. The letter read;

_Dear Twilight,_

_My faithful student, I know this must be odd for me to send a message so late at night, but I felt like this couldn't wait until tomorrow. I know that what I'm about to tell you may be hard for you to get but I need you to understand. Speed came to Canterlot on my request today so we can discuss some things. I wished I hadn't asked him to come,in the first place. I learned that he has a great darkness inside of him. A dangerous one at that and it can be released at a moment's notice. It has the power to change the world for the worst of even destroy it. So I need you to watch him. No matter where he goes, no matter what he does. Because if that thing gets out you must be ready to do anything to stop it._

The next words Twilight read caused her to gain a lump in her throat.

_Even if it means..._

_"_ 'That you have to kill him..."

**Boom! There you have it folks. Twilight has been given her toughest mission yet! To watch Speed and if he ever loses control to execute him! How will she handle this pressure given to her by her own mentor? Well just wait and find out! Sorry if the chapter is shorter than usual. I just wanted to clear up some things if you were confused! Thanks so much for reading this chapter! Of course if you liked it, R.F.F! **

**This has been Speed the Hedgehog...**

_**SIGNING OFF!**_


	12. Chapter 12

_Today is the day._ Rainbow thought. _Today is the day I finally prove to everyone that I __**am **__the best!_ Ever since Speed came to Equestria and fought against her, she remembered that brief moment where right before she crashed into him, he made his own Sonic Boom at the _start_ of his run before colliding into her and knocking them both unconscious. She became furious at the fact that someone was able to not only match her speed but also able to knock her out? That's why, when no one was around, she would train each day to get faster and faster. Now she believes that the day has come.

"Speed the Hedgehog, I hope you're ready. Because I'm about to blow you away!"

Speed was taking a casual stroll in Ponyville. After the recent events, he felt like he needed a day off. So he left before Twilight or Spike woke up and just walked. And as much as he liked hanging out with his friends he did his best avoiding them. He just felt that if he interacted with them that somehow he was going to have some trouble. Luckily, due to his time here in Equestria he knew everyone's schedule so he was able to avoid them. The schedule he didn't know was Rainbow's, but seeing as how she's either doing her job as a weather pony, showing off, or just relaxing that he didn't need to know her schedule. At least, that's what he thought. Until...

"_Speed the Hedgehog!"_

Speed immediately froze in place. As did all the other ponies. Then something crashed down in front of him. It was none other than Rainbow herself. She glared Speed in the eye. As soon as he saw her eyes, he knew that his day of,"relaxation", was over.

"Speed..." Rainbow growled. Speed smiled nervously.

"H-Hey Rainbow. I-Is there something I can do for you?" he asked nervously. She then gained a sinister smile which caused Speed to step back.

"You. Me. At sundown." she simply stated.

"Sundown? What are we doing at sundown?" Speed questioned.

"We are going to race! Tonight, we'll all finally see who is the fastest! And,spoiler alert, it's gonna be me. So you better not chicken out, got it?" she asked. Speed slowly shook his head. "Good. Well I'm gonna go practice my victory speech. If I were you, I would practice my loser speech. See you there!" she called out before flying away while performing tricks, wowing the crowd.

"Hanngghh...I knew it was too good to be true." Speed said.

_Seconds later..._

"What am I gonna do Wind? I mean sure I don't mind racing, but I don't want to race about this! I mean, our friendship is already pretty shaky ever since that day I arrived in Equestria but now with this, it might become even worst!" Speed said to his timberwolf. The wolf simply looked at him before barking.

"What? Forfeit? No,you don't understand. If I forfeit, Rainbow will not only tease me about it but she'll have my head!" Speed explained. Wind barked again. "No, I can't make up an excuse, otherwise she'll grab AJ and use her to see if I'm lying or not." Wind then just barked and walked over to Speed. Then, in an almost human fashion, just patted Speed's back and walked back to his original spot. And Speed could've sworn that he saw Wind smirk.

"Huh...I'll just have to think of something later. See ya around Wind." Speed said before walking back into town with Wind taking off into the forest. However, the two had failed to notice the dozen pairs of bright, green eyes staring at them from the darkness.

_Minutes before sundown..._

Rainbow trotted around impatiently near the edge of Ponyville. The rest of the town was there as well. They murmured amongst themselves in excitement and anticipation.

_Do you think he'll show? I don't know. He's better off not showing up. No one is as fast as Rainbow. We can't blame him for not showing. But then he'll look like a wimp! Yeah, well at least he won't be embarrassed and left in the dust._

"Grrrrrrr...where is he? He's gonna be late! I swear if he dropped out..." Rainbow said. Applejack trotted over to her.

"Don't worry sugarcube! I'm sure he'll be here any second now." Applejack encouraged. Rainbow sent a glare at her, causing the earth pony to back up.

"Oh, I'm not worried. I'm gonna be pissed if he doesn't-"

_LOOK!_

Every pony turned their attention towards where the pony was pointing. They Then started to cheer as a familiar silhouette drew closer.

"Heheh...good." Rainbow said.

"Sorry i'm late every pony!" Speed apologised.

"You better be! What took you so long?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh I was making an entrance is all." Speed said.

"Well now that you're here, I think it's time." Rainbow said. Then, the two speedsters stood at the starting point which was at the edge of Ponyville. The race would be short and simple. Through the Everfree Forest, around the old Castle of the Two Sisters, back into Ponyville, around Twilight's house and back to the starting line.

"Got it? Good." she said without confirming. They got set at the starting line. "Ready to get left in the dust?" Rainbow taunted but Speed didn't reply to her taunt. "Ah I see, focusing eh? Wow, such a tryhard." Rarity walked to the line with a white cloth.

"Are you two ready?" Rarity asked the two.

"Buck yeah!" Rainbow said excitedly. Speed just simply gave her a thumbs up.

"Well then, let's begin on go." she said.

_3_! Rainbow tightened her muscles.

_2! _Speed crouched down.

_1! _Both of them narrowed their eyes.

_G-!_

_Growl.._

Suddenly, all of Ponyville froze at the sound of something growling in the woods. Then, something began to emerge from the forest. Everyone instantly recognised it as a timberwolf.

"Ughh...really? Don't worry every pony. I'll take care of-" no sooner than those words left Rainbow's mouth did eleven more poor out of the woods. All of the ponies panicked and ran away save the Mane 6. Well 5 since Fluttershy was hiding somewhere. "Ok, so there's more of ya. No big problem, I bet I can take you all in by myself!" Rainbow taunted. However, what she failed to notice was that while she was boasting, a timberwolf approached from behind her.

"Rainbow look out!" Pinkie cried out. But Rainbow turned around too slow. The wolf was already in the air inches away from pouncing on Rainbow. She closed her eyes as as she expected the wolf to tear her to shreds.

_Air Slash!_

The wolf still in midair was hit with a green wave of air. Then it just burst into pieces. The ponies and the wolves looked over to see where that came from. They all saw Speed with his sword raised high. He then calmly walked over to where Rainbow was at. She looked at him and simply 'hmphed' at him. Speed sighed and nodded his head. Then the rest of the pack charged at them. The duo got ready and then charged as well.

**Play Falls Apart-Thousand Foot Krutch**

Speed took the lead in the charge and used his air powers to push back some of the wolves and staggered them. Rainbow dealt blow after blow to them. Then Speed pulled out his sword and began to hack away at them. However, even though the two were dealing a good amount of damage, it wasn't enough to wipe out even one.

"Darn it! How are we supposed to beat these things?" Rainbow asked. Speed thought for a second before pulling out his yellow lightning emerald. He then began to power up until the emerald went inside of him. A yellow aura surrounded him until a bright flash occurred. When it died down, Spark stood in Speed's place.

"Ok, that's good and all but how are _you _gonna help?" Rainbow questioned. Spark smiled before charging his hands with electricity. Suddenly, lightning was landing all around them. Then 2 large lightning bolts struck Spark's hands causing smoke to block him out. When it finally disappeared, Spark was still standing, but with something in each of his hands. It appeared to be daggers of sorts. The blade was yellow and was lightning shaped and the hilt was black so it looked like a storm cloud releasing lightning.

"Woah..." Rainbow said in awe. Spark smirked at her before looking back at the wolves. He charged his daggers with electricity before he started spinning in a circle. The Mane 6 looked on in confusion. He kept spinning until he looked like a ring. Then he suddenly stopped. Then he swung his daggers at the wolves and shouted...

_Thunder Wave!_

Which sent a large wave of electricity towards the wolves. The smarter ones got out of the way of the attack, but three of them were hit with it and were electrocuted before breaking into pieces. Then he charged towards them again. Two wolves tried to pounce on him but he dodged them and stabbed their stomachs. With the daggers still in there he charged them with electricity, electrocuting them from the inside out. They fell to the ground in pieces. He turned towards the remaining seven wolves. Rainbow then appeared right beside him.

"Well, you ready to do this?"Spark asked. Rainbow smirked at him.

"I dunno are you?" she asked back. Spark chuckled.

"Let's find out." then, the duo,once again, charged toward the remaining seven wolves. One of the wolves foolishly charged back. It tried to pounce on them but Rainbow had stopped it in its tracks by uppercutting it, sending it airborne where Spark sliced it in two. The rest of the wolves stayed together in a pack. Rainbow and Spark dived in between the six and went to town. They each took on their own wolf and watched each other's back. While Spark was cutting up one wolf, Rainbow was smashing another. And when one of them was about to be sneak attacked, the other interfered and saved their partner.

"Watch your back Rainbow!" Spark exclaimed. He sliced up the wolf that was behind her to pieces. She turned around and saw a wolf behind Spark before flying up and smashing its head in.

"I could say the same to you Spark!" she yelled. Then they went back to work. Four wolves still remained and the two were getting worn down. The wolves showed no signs of tiredness. Suddenly, Spark had an idea.

"Rainbow, get down!" he yelled. She, not knowing what was going on, immediately did what she was told and laid down on the ground. Spark then charged his blade with electricity. But instead of holding it, he allowed it to overflow and caused his blades to extend. Then, same as before, he spun around in a circle. Due to his blades extended length, they were able to cut down all the remaining four wolves. After the dust settled, Rainbow looked up and saw that all the wolves were in pieces. She walked over to wolves and poked at their remains to make sure they were finished. She turned to Spark, who now reverted back to Speed, who was panting heavily.

**Stop Playing Falls Apart**

"Looks like we got em'." Rainbow stated. Speed trudged over to her.

"Yeah*pant*I guess*pant*we did*pant*." he said with difficulty. The two then high fived/hoofed. Then they began to walk past the remains back towards their friends. They were waving at them and thanking them. Speed noticed that Rainbow had stopped.

"What's wrong Rainbow?" Speed asked.

"Hmm? Oh nothing, just thinking." Rainbow answered with a smile. He looked at her for a couple seconds before smiling back at her before continuing his walk towards his friends.

_Well, that didn't go exactly as I planned but hey, at least I got to look cool! And I guess Speed wasn't bad either. And he did save me one time. Maybe he isn't all that bad of a hedgehog. _Rainbow thought. Suddenly, Rainbow felt herself get pushed to the ground.

"Ow! Hey you need watch where you're-"

_Drip._

Rainbow went dead silent as she took in what was in front of her.

**Play Persona 4-A Corner of a Memory**

Speed was in front of her, cuts spread across his chest, blood seeping out from them, falling to the ground. And a large timber wolf in front of him, claws dripping with blood. Rainbow was shocked at this. She couldn't comprehend what had happened. She couldn't even move or blink.

"S-Speed?" she whimpered shakily. He looked at her slightly before smiling, before pointing his finger at the wolf like a gun.

_Aerogun..._ He whispered. A tiny green orb of air flew from his fingertip and hit the wolf in the wolf in the head. It's head jerked back before it exploded into pieces. Then we he Speed finally hit ground.

"'Bang'..." he whispered.

**AN: to anyone who can guess what show this is from, you are truly awesome!**

"Speed!" Rainbow shouted, finally coming to her senses. She crawled over to him in a hurry, not caring about the splinters or cuts she was getting. She put her head to his chest to listen for anything.

..._Ba-bump..._

She sighed in relief and fell on her back. Only then, did she start to cry. Her friends made their way over to them. Twilight picked up Speed while Applejack and Pinkie helped Rainbow up. They then headed over to Twilight's place.

_A couple of minutes later..._

The Mane 6 were gathered around Speed, along with Nurse Redheart. Her and Twilight were healing Speed up while Rainbow was being comforted by AJ, Pinkie, and Rarity. Fluttershy was sitting next to Speed whimpering.

"It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault." Rainbow kept repeating. Applejack tried to reassure her.

"No it ain't sugarcube. It's no pony's fault that this happened. Right girls?" AJ asked.

"She's right Rainbow darling. You must understand that no one can control a timber wolf." Rarity added.

"I dunno. I mean, she did call for the race, which led them to go near the forest, which lead to the attack, which-mmph!" Pinkie said before AJ interrupted giving her a glare.

"The point is, you couldn't have known this would happen. And besides, at least he's alive. That's a good thing." Applejack reminded her. At that moment, Twilight and Nurse Redheart slumped down and panted heavily.

"So girls, is he going to be ok?" Rainbow asked in concern. Nurse Redheart and Twilight smiled at them.

"Well, we were able to stop the bleeding and disinfect the wound. We also found out that apparently with his abilities that his body can close wounds at a rapid rate. So in other words, yes he is going to be ok." Nurse Redheart stated. All of the girls sighed in relief.

"Thank you for your help Nurse Redheart. We really appreciate it." Twilight thanked.

"No problem. Now as I said before, make sure he gets lots of rest. Even if his body can heal itself, that doesn't mean he'll be fully recovered when he wakes up. So make sure he stays rested for at least a day ok?" Redheart explained. The girls nodded. Redheart then made her way out. That left the Mane 6 all by themselves.

"Well girls, I think we had enough excitement for one day don't you think?" Twilight asked. They all nodded their heads.

"Alright girls. I'm gonna head back on home now. Y'all take care now ya here?" AJ said before making her way to the door.

"I am also going to leave. I will need an extra long beauty sleep after this." Rarity stated. The others also said goodbye in their own manner and departed except for Rainbow. She and Twilight were staring down at Speed.

"Speed, I'm not sure if you can hear me or not but I wanted to say, I'm sorry. If it weren't for me and my stupid jealousy you wouldn't be hurt right now. I'm such and idiot and I'm so sorry for making you like this." Rainbow apologised. She then began to cry again.

"Rainbow, you know Speed isn't mad at you. And you know he is still your friend. He also doesn't blame you for any of this." Twilight assured her. Rainbow looked at her with red puffy eyes.

"Really?" she asked while sniffling. Twilight nodded her head.

"Of course. If he wasn't still your friend, he wouldn't have saved you." Twilight said. Rainbow went silent before smiling slightly.

"Yeah. I guess you're right." she then wiped her face and on a smile. "Thanks Twilight.: she then looks at Speed. "Thank you to Speed." Then she walked out the door and flew home. Twilight then went to pick up Speed with her magic. But we she picked him up, his red emerald fell out. She noticed this and set him on the couch before going over to pick it up. As she held it in her hoof, she noticed that it started to shine bright and got really hot. She yelped as she dropped it and caught it with her magic. She then immediately put in Speed's quills, still having no idea how that works.

"What was that?" Twilight asked herself as she made her way to her room to turn in for the night. Downstairs, a part of Speed's quills glowed red and shined in the dark room.

**Another chapter completed folks! I hope you enjoyed another chapter of Element of Freedom! This chapter focused more on Rainbow and Speed's relationship. And it also gave a hint on what's to come. Try to guess if you dare!(just not in the reviews. Keep it to yourself until the reveal so you can say 'HAH! I was right!). Also the season one finale is soon! And I know you're gonna say 'What? But you only have a few chapters! You haven't even gone through most of season one!'. Well I thought of it like this. If I were to do **_**every **_**single episode of season one, all I would be doing is copying and editing 26 or so chapters. And I know,other writers have done this but that's how they wanna run their story. If you don't like it, I'm sorry. In other news, after the season one finale, I'm planning,on starting a new story! You wanna know what it is? Well, you're just gonna wait to find out! *insert troll face here*.So if you enjoyed please favorite, follow and review! And as always...**

_**This is Speed,the Hedgehog...**_

_**SIGNING OFF!**_


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello! This is Speed the Hedgehog here with another chapter of **

_**Element of Freedom!**_

**Last time Speed and Rainbow were about to begin the big race, until a pack of timberwolves interrupted. Speed was severely injured at the end where a wolf playing dead attacked Rainbow! He took the blow and destroyed the wolf in the process. Also, Twilight interacted with one of Speed's emeralds and experienced something interesting. Now we rejoin once again a sleeping Speed and see what's going on.**

**The Choice Part I**

_I wonder if I can keep doing this every night? _Speed wondered as he walked towards the black and red door. He was once again about to fight Inzane for control again. _Night after night, dream after dream. It gets so...tiring. _He stopped just before the red door. He sighed as he reached the handle. _No. I can't think like that. This is for my friends, so they can be safe. I have to stay determined! For their sake! _He twists the handle and steps inside. However, what he found inside was very confusing.

"Greetings Speed." Princess Luna greeted. He got closer and saw that Inzane's body was fading in to darkness.

"Luna? What did you-how did you-?" he asked before she put a hoof up to silence him.

"I've come to ask that you come to the castle tomorrow afternoon. We have...some news for you.: she said nervously. Then without another word, she flew off into the darkness and disappeared. Speed then watched as his dream slowly start to shine, meaning he was waking up. Light flooded his eyes and blinded him until it was dark again. He opened his eyes and saw he was on the couch in Twilight's library. He got up and saw it was daylight. He glanced at the clock and saw that it read(no litteraly had a book that showed glowing numbers) it was 1:30. He decided he would leave in an hour and a half at 3:00.

"Oh! Good afternoon Speed!" Twilight said from the kitchen. He turn and saw her walking towards him. "How are you feeling?" she asked. How was he feeling? Why would she...oh right. He remembered what happened last night with Rainbow. He subconciously reached for his stomach. There was no scar but he could still feel where the timber wolf slashed him.

"I feel fine, it doesn't hurt and I feel energized." he answered. She sighed and smiled.

"That's good. I was afraid it was worse. Well you can move around but don't get into any fights ok? You still need to recouperate from the fight." Twilight explained. Speed rolled his eyes.

"All right all right 'mom' no need to worry about me so much!" he complained but was still smiling. "Anyway I gotta head out at 3:00." he told her.

"Why?" she asked, nervousness almost shown on her face.

"The princesses wanted me to meet them at the castle because they have some 'news' for me." he answered. Twilight swallowed a huge lump and put on the best smile she could muster at the moment.

"Oh OK! W-Well, m-m-make sure y-y-you say 'Hi!' for me!" she stuttered out. Speed gained a confused look on his face.

"Twilight are,you ok? You like you've seen a ghost. That or an Ursa Major." he joked. She breathed in and out and put on a tiny smile.

"It's nothing Speed. Don't worry about it! I'm fine." she persuaded. He gained a skeptical look on his face before shrugging.

"If you say so. Well I'm gonna go if I can do anything to pass the time. Later!" he yelled before leaving the library. As soon as he was out of sight Twilight collapsed to the floor.

"Oh no...what am I gonna do!? I can't take my eyes off him or else he might lose control at any moment! And if that happens…*brrr*" she shuddered at the thought. She just needed to think of a plan, but what? She say there, pondering what she should do. She waited and waited but her train of thought was constantly going from one place to another.

Wait a second.

_Wait._

_Train._

_One place to another._

_The smell of smoke._

"Wait smell of smoke?" she turned and saw that her kitchen was on fire! "Ahhhh!" she yelled before she grabed a fire extingusher and ran into the kitchen. It took her a while but she finally got the fire to die down and go out. She breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed her charred face with a towel. Ok, after she goes and takes a bath, she'll initiate her plan to keep an eye on Speed.

_One and a half hours later…_

After helping Rarity prepare dresses for the Gala(boring), buck apples with AJ(who insisted on helping him with every tree even though he didn't need it), cook with Pinkie Pie(afterwards getting a terrible stomach ache), assist Flluttershy in taking care of her animals(although the rabbit didn't like him so much), watch Rainbow fly around and do tricks(kinda entertaining), and training with Wind Waker(who accidently almost got caught because he was barking so loud) it was finally 3:00.

He flew at high speeds towards Canterlot. When he finally arrived, the guards once again led him to the throne room. He noticed that the princesses only had one guard beside each of them. The guards that escorted him bowed and left the throne room. He approached the sisters and kneeled before getting up.

"Hello Speed." Celestia greeted. He said hi back. Luna waved and he waved back.

"So Princess Celestia, Luna said you have news for me?" he questioned. Celestia and Luna exchanged looks of nervousness before continuing.

"Yes we have." Celestia answered. Speed motioned for her to continue on. She sighed and continued. "The last time you came here, we had scientists analyze your power from a distance. They said it was like nothing they've ever seen. They experimented and theorized about its source and where it originated. They also tried to find out where you came from and how it ties to you. Until recently. One of them had discovered something odd. One of them secretly casted a dangerous spell. It was one that allowed the user to see through a tiny hole another dimension. They saw a green string coming from the portal and streched all the way to Ponyvile. They sent one to track it down and guess who it was attached to?" She lifted her hoof and a unicorn with a lab coat stepped in. Their horn glowed for a minute and from nowhere appeared a tiny hole. And just as Celestia said, a tiny green string went from the hole to Speed.

"Woah…" Speed said in awe. The hole then closed and the line dissappeared.

"So you see," Luna went on," there is a way to get you home. All we have to do is get our strongest unicorns to work together and open a portal large enough for you. Then, you'll be able to go home." Speed was happy to hear this, but another thought came to his mind.

"What about my friends?" he asked. Luna and Celestia cringed.

"It will be hard for them to understand, so it is best to not let them know." Celestia answered. Speed closed his eyes for a second before opening them and smiling.

"Sorry, but no thanks!" he said cheerfully. All the ponies in the room gasped. "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the offer but, I can't just leave my friends. We've been friends for a while and I couldn't just abandon them. If I were to leave, without even so much as a goodbye, it would hurt them so much and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. So again, thanks, but no thanks."

"But that would mean abandoning your friends on Mobius. Are you willing to leave _them _for your _new_ friends?" Luna asked.

"Well, I really only knew Sonic and Tails. Plus I told him that if I ever disappear off the face of Mobius that it was because I had a lead on my past and not to worry about me. So I'm sure he's figured out that I'm gone for a good reason." he explained. Celestia then sighed before smiling.

"Well, if that is what you truely wish then-"

_HOLD IT!_

The entire room went silent as Princess Luna walked up to Speed. He looked at her confused.

"Sister! Do you honestly think that this is wise? Remember he harbors a monster inside of him! He is a threat to Equestria and everything in it!" Luna yelled. Speed stood there shocked. As did Celestia.

"Woah woah woah! Why are you judging me for Inzane's actions?" he asked.

"Because he is still a part of you and if you stay, he stays. It you lose control-!" Luna stated.

"I won't!" Speed yelled.

"How can you be certain? You've lost control in the past, how can we sure you won't now!?" Luna asked.

"Luna!" Celestia yelled to get her sisters attention. Luna looked at her sister. "We should respect his choices Luna. He has been doing this for a long time. I'm confident he can control it, and if the day comes when he does lose control we will figure out things then. But for now, we must put our faith in him." Celestia said. Luna growled as her eyes shifted for a second to being like Nightmare Moon's.

"Fine. We won t eliminate the threat." she said. Celestia smiled until she saw energy building in Luna's horn. She pointed at Speed with it. "I'll do it my self!"

**Play Die-Jeff Williams**

She released the blast at point blank range, causing a smoke screen. After a couple of seconds, Speed jumped out, his arms protecting him. He ducked as another blast went over him. He used his air to dissipate the smokescreen so he could see. However Luna wasn't any where to be found and he couldn't sense her. Suddenly, a flash of blue appeared next to him. He put his arms up on instinct and blocked a powerful buck from Luna. However the buck was magic infused and still knocked him back. He got sent flying into a wall and almost broke through it. He looked up and saw Luna about to ram him. He pulled himself out and rolled out of the way as she crashed into it.

_Crap, if I don't do something, she might actually kill me! My only,choice her is to fight back and knock her out. _Speed thought. He then, while she was dazed from the wall, charged and delivered a strong right to her face, this time sending _her_ into a wall. He hoped that was enough to take down the princess. But he guess he forgot she's a princess for a reason. She bust back though and had a dark blue aura around her. She charged again towards Speed, a lot faster this time. He was barely able to dodge it by jumping in the air. However, she wasn't done there. A blue moon appeared under her, and redirected her attack towards him again. He got caught off guard and got launched towards the ceiling but stopped himself.

"Grrrrr...Fine! Don't get mad at me for this!" Speed yelled. His hands and feet were coated in a green aura. He lowered down and landed a few feet in front of Luna. The air around him swirled. He pulled,back like he was about to punch something. She wondered what was he doing, trying to punch the air? He swung his fist and midswing dissapeared. She wondered where he went before suddenly, she felt something connect with the side of her face and her being sent flying.

Oh.

Now she understood.

He moved. Mid-swing, he moved forward at high speeds. So that way she wouldn't be ready for it. And boy was she not ready. She straightened herself with her wings before catching another punch to to her cheek and another one. And another. And another. He kept landing blow after blow until he finally stopped, only to kick her, sending her straight up. She hit the ceiling with a 'smack!' before falling back down. He caught her by the hoof and spun in circle before throwing her. She crashed into the marble floor of the throne room, right in front of her sister. She staggered up, bleeding from her mouth. Speed landed, looking tired as well. He was also bleeding from his forehead. They both stared at each other for a while. Then, Luna coated her self with her magic and Speed covered his hands and feet in aura again.

"This ends now!" Speed shouted.

"Agreed!" yelled Luna. Then they launched themselves at each other for one final attack and right when they were about to connect…

_**Stooooppppp!**_

**Stop playing Die-Jeff Williams**

Speed and Luna were thrown back and land on the floor. They looked up and saw that a lavender shield had raised itself between the two. And the pony that casted that shield was none other than

"Twilight?" Speed questioned.

_Before the fight…_

She had no idea how to feel right now. She was happy that Speed was willing to stay for her and her friends sake, but was sad that he was leaving his home world. And she certainly wasn't sure how her invisibility spell was working, considering Speed could sense her. But she wasn't complaining. And you can bet she was shocked when Luna attacked him. Good thing she was by Celestia instead. As she watched the battle unfold, so,many thoughts were running in her head. Ranging from 'why is this happening?' to 'are they gonna he ok?' and 'what should I do?'. It wasn't til Speed and Luna were tired that she would try to stop them. She got between and was about to reveal herself until they charged again.

Enough is enough.

This stops now!

So using what power she had, she cast a large shield spell and made sure to get them to stop.

And boy did it work.

_Present time…_

"Twilight?" Speed, still in shock, asked. Every pony was silient. After all, they never expected Twilght Sparkle, of all ponies, would be the one to stop this battle.

"Luna!" she yelled as she turn, startling the moon princess. "There is always another way! Violence is not always the answer! This fight didn't have to happen and none of you should be hurt right now! Has being Nightmare Moon taught you nothing!?" Twilight asked before realising what she said and covered her mouth. "Oh my goodness, Princess I didn't mean if like-"

"No. No you're right" Luna said wiping away tears" it was just, I...you wouldn't understand."

"Actually, I _do_ understand." Speed said, gaining everyone's attention. "You, were just scared, weren't you?"

"Scared? Scared of what Speed?" Twilight asked.

"That it would happen again. She knows what it's like to have a monster inside of you. And she knows the fear of that monster getting out and hurting everything you love." he says as he walks over to her.

**Play His Theme-UNDERTALE**

"We don't have to be afraid Luna." he said, causing her to look at him. "We've never had to be afraid in the first place."

"A-and why not? How are not supposed be of the evil within us? " Luna asked.

"Because." he said as he helped Luna up," we don t have to do it alone. We not have the strength to fight back, but we also have friends we can fall back on and who'll help us fight against this evil. So no more being afraid." he says as he grabs her hoof and shakes. " As long as we're not alone, we don't have to be afraid any more. You understand?"

"Y-yes. Yes I _do_ understand." she stands confidently. "No longer will I be afraid of my former self. No longer will I be afraid of my 'Nightmare'. I will face it head on! With the support of my friends" she looks at Speed and Twilight," my subjects" she looks towards the guards" and my family." she says as she turns to Celestia. They both smile at each other before turning back towards Speed and Twilight.

"Thank you Speed, for showing me that I am not alone, and I no longer need to fear my darkness." Luna says while smiling at Speed. Then she looks,at Twilight. "And thank you for stopping our petty fight Twilight."

You're welcome, Princess Luna." Twilight says while Speed gives a thumbs up.

**Stop playing His Theme-UNDERTALE**

"Well Luna I do believe it is time to raise the moon." Celestia pointed out as the sun began to set. Luna chuckled used her magic to lift the moon to its proper position.

"Speed and Twilight, I do believe it is time for you to go home as well." Luna said, Speed and Twilight nodded. "I shall teleport you home so you don t waste any more energy you already have."

"Thank you Princess Luna. We hope you have a wonderful night." Speed said.

"And you as well. Thank you." Luna said. Her horn then started to glow dark blue. Speed and Twilight were then surrounded in the same aura. Then in bright flash the two were gone.

_Seconds later…_

A dark blue flash occured in front of Twilight's house and died down to reveal Speed and Twilight.

"Well I for one am super tired and mentally exhausted." Twilight said.

"Yeah, I could really use a snack or something. I'm starving!" Speed complained while Twilight laughed.

"Come on, I'll fix you something to eat." she opened the door and walked in with Speed. Suddenly, she realizes something."Wait, did I leave my lights off?" And no sooner did she say that the door close and the next thing she heard, had to be the most happiest thing she's heard all day.

_**SURPRISE!**_

**That's it for this chapter guys! Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I had fun typing it! Also I want to give thanks a lot of credit to Mr. QuintustheHedgehog for this chapter. Without him, this chapter wouldn't exist! So give him a round of applause! *insert generic clap sounds here*. And like I said I really hope you enjoyed this chapter of Element or Freedom. Next chapter is gonna be kinda short, but then after that, the season one finale of Element of Freedom! And on the season one finale I will reveal the trailer for the new crossover story I will be making! So until then it you enjoyed make sure R.F.F! And as always…**

_**This is Speed the Hedgehog…**_

_**SIGNING OFF!**_


	14. Chapter 14

**What's good everybody!? Speed the Hedgehog here back with another chapter of…**

_**Element of Freedom!**_

**In the last chapter, Speed found out that he could go home! That he could leave here and go through a portal to Mobius. But of course, Speed refused the offer and decided to stay here with his friends. However Luna was not happy about this and attacked Speed! The two clashed in battle, dealing blow after blow to each other until finally, Twilight stopped them. Afeer apologies were made and new bonds were formed, they both arrived at the library with a special gift waiting for them. Lets see what it is(it should be obvious though.)**

**The Choice II**

"SURPRISE!" yelled Pinkie and just about everyone in Ponyvile. Even Fluttershy poked her head out. Needless to say, Speed and Twilight were not expecting this at all, which was obvious seeing as Speed's head was now in the ceiling. Twilight used her horn to pull him down safely. He landed on the ground dizzy before he shook the stars out of his face.

"Pinkie? Girls? Every pony! You threw this party for us?" Twilight asked.

"No...we threw it for Spike" Pinkie said sarcastically while in the back ground an angry 'hey!' could be heard. "Of course we threw it for you two!"

"But why? I mean, we haven't really done anything?" Twilight asked.

"Because, silly, Speed decided to stay with us," she explained, shocking both Twilight and Speed," and because you stopped Speed and Princess Luna from killing each other!"

"Wait-what!? But how? And when did-there was no way she could've-!" Twilight stammered until Speed a hand on her head.

"Twilight, in the short time I've lived here, I figured out one thing. Don't question anything when it comes to Pinkie Pie." Speed said. She sighed and smiled.

"Well now that the guests of honor have arrived, who's ready to party!?" Pinkie shouted. The ponies responded with a cheer. Speed and Twilight sighed. They knew it was going to be a long night.

_During the party, Canterlot…_

The two sisters were watching the party unfold in Ponyvile from a castle balcony. The two smiled as they watched.

"See Luna, I said it would be fine. And like he said, he has friends behind him to fall back on." Celestia told Luna.

"I know sister it's just well, I'm afraid. Not afraid of my darkness, not anymore. But rather, how our world will change with him in it. We have never had a creature like him in our world. And I'm afraid that inavertantly, he could bring about destruction to our world." Luna said sadly. Celestia went to her side and put a wing around her younger sibling.

"Well, if we face a problem like that one day, we won't have to face it alone right?" Celestia stated. Luna smiled and put her wing around Celestia.

"Right. We'll face it together." Luna said as she smiled and closed her eyes. However, if her eyes were open just a little bit longer, she would've noticed that Celestia was not smiling, but rather donned a stern expression and was no longer staring at Ponyvile, but rather at a certain statue in a garden.

"Yes...together."

_Back at the party_

_Hmmm, this one seems smaller than,the last one. Probaly due to the fact that the Celebration was here last time_. Speed thought as he leaned against a table, holding a cup of...what did she call it? 'Pinkie Juice'? All he knows is that it definitely beats coffe. But he could have sworn he saw a plastic dragon in the bowl.

"Oh h-hello Speed." a voice timidly said. He turned and saw Fluttershy approching him. Which kinda surprised him, considering she hates loud noises, which there were plenty of. Crowded spaces, in which this party was more than that. And mingeling, which how can you not do at a Pinkie party?

"Oh,hey Fluttershy. How's the party? Pretty wild right?" He asked. She just nodded her head. She looked like she was having a great time! She seemed nervous about something though.

"U-um...S-Speed? I-If it's not too much trouble,c-c-could we t-t-talk outside. A-a-alone?" she stammered out. She closed eyes and turned away, expecting the worst.

"Sure thing." he said as he walked towards the front door with Fluttershy in tow. However, they did not notice that the rest of the Mane 6 was watching them.

"Oooh, looks like Fluttershy is making her move. Good for her!" Rarity said. Pinkie and AJ frowned at this.

"Well,well,well. Looks like Flutters is starting to be brave! Go her!" Rainbow cheered. AJ did did her best at covering her anger and Pinkie Pie's smile was twitching.

"Yeah. Good. For. _Her!_" Pinkie managed to get out.

_Outside…_

"So, Fluttershy. What did you want to talk about?" Speed asked. Fluttershy turned red at his question. She had practicing all night. So why was this so different? No, she knew the answer. This wasn't a pony she's known for a while or one of the girls. This was an anthromorphic hedgehog. One that she admired. One that she wanted to spend all her time with. One that she wanted to spend her life with! One that she-

"Fluttershy? You ok?" Speed asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

_Ok. Remember what Neghia Lehoof said, JUST DO IT!_ Fluttershy thought.

"Well I brung you out here because I wanted to say...thank you." She said, sighing in relief at what she had done.

"'Thank you?' For what?" Speed asked.

"For choosing to stay with me-I mean us! I know that it must've been a hard choice, leaving your world behind for this one. So I wanted to say thank you." She explained. Speed stood there for a second before smiling.

"Anytime Flutters, anytime." Speed said as he turned to walk back in. Fluttershy stood there silently cheering. She had done it! She actually done it! "Oh and Fluttershy?" he called out, snapping her out of her trance again. He smiled at her. "Thank _you_ for being my friend." She nearly squeaked and almost fainted as she followed Speed.

"You're welcome Speed."

_In Speed's mind…_

_Bleh! All this mushy mushy stuff is really digusting you know? _Asura said.

_I don't know. I think it's kinda nice! _Spark said.

_You think everything is nice. _Inzane said.

_Because it is! Well, except you. You're terrible. _Spark stated.

_I can't wait until I take control so I can ruin everything for him._ Inzane said wistfully.

_Speed won t let you ever take control! He's too strong willed. And even if you do, us three will be in the mind fighting you! You won t stand a chance!_ Spark confidently told him.

_Oh really? Heh, that just shows how much you know about my power. _Inzane told them. They were confused at this. _If you payed attention you should know that I am his opposite half. Which means the more powerful __**he**_ _gets. _Suddenly, a black and red aura surrounded him. And in his two hands were a ball of black and red electricity and a black ball of fire. _The more powerful __**I**_ _am! _

_**Hehehehehe...hahahahahahahah!**_

**And that's all folks! Sorry this chapter is so short but I only wanted to show the aftermath of the previous one. Next chapter is the season one finale! In that chapter I will also show a trailer of the next crossover I'm making. So if you wanna know what it is, make sure to stick around and find out! And again I want to give some credit to QuintustheGodhog for this chapter as well! Make sure to go to his profile and favorite and follow him! And if you enjoyed this chapter, make sure to Review! Favorite! And Follow! And as always**

_**This is Speed the Hedgehog,**_

_**SIGNING OFF!**_


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey there everybody and welcome to the season one finale of**

_**Element of Freedom!**_

**In the previous chapter, we pretty much wrapped up the aftermath of Speed receiving news that he could go home. And after declining fought against Princess Luna. Afterwards the two made up and Speed and Twilight were sent home. When they arrived, they were greeted with a party from Pinkie Pie and the rest of Ponyville. Fluttershy also let Speed know how much she appreciates Speed's choice to stay. Now we rejoin Speed and his friends on the day of the Grand Galloping Gala!**

**The Best/Worst Night Ever!**

Speed was not in a happy mood. 'How?' you may ask? Well, his morning started off with a certain dragon repeatedly poking him on the head. Then he was deprived of breakfast after being dragged out of the library by Twilight, and was now listening to Pinkie repeatedly shouting about tonight while jumping on a trampoline. He was so tired, he forgot what tonight was.

"Um, by the way, what's tonight again?" Speed groggily asked. Pinkie suddenly screeched jumping and sped towards him so fast, even _he_ was surprised.

"What!? How can you not remember what tonight is!? It's only the greatest, most wonderful, most fantastical night ever!" she yelled. After cleaning his ears, he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Speed don't you remember? Tonight's the-"

"Grand Galloping Gala!" Pinkie interrupted Twilight.

"Righttt. Now I remember! It's this like, this big fancy dance or something right?" he asked. Suddenly, the door to Carousel Boutique bursted open and Rarity ran towards him.

"It's not just some big fancy dance! It's a time where only the most sophisticated and grand ponies in Equestria meet once a year. Accompanied by the most graceful entertainers, the loveliest of music, and best of all, a grand appearance of Prince Blueblood!" Rarity swooned.

"And delicious cake, and pastries, and even a chocolate fountain!" Pinkie salivated while fantasizing.

"And we all must be in top condition. Which is why we're meeting her at Rarity's. Now all we gotta do is wait for the others." Twilight explained.

"Speaking of which, what is taking them so long? The more time we waste, the less time I have to make our attire perfect!" Rarity complained.

"Hold yer' horses girl, we're here." Applejack said while approaching with Rainbow and Fluttershy in tow.

"And _I _just finished preparing the spell I had for the Gala." Twilight announced. The others gather around.

"What is it?" Rainbow asked.

"Spike, if you would so kindly?" Twilight requested. Spike then pulled out an apple and set it on the ground. The others stood back as Twilight's horn glowed. A purple aura began to surround the apple. After a moment, the apple to shake and start to distort. Suddenly, in a flurry of sparkles, it transformed into an apple-themed carriage. The others gasped in awe at the sight before them.

"But that's just the start." Twilight then turned to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, did you bring your friends?" The pegasus shook her head and four mice popped out. She placed them on the ground in front of the apple carriage. Then as before, the four mice began to glow the color as Twilight's horn. And in a poof of smoke, transformed into...horses? They looked like it but they had whiskers like mice so, mources?

"Oh. Wow...um, yeah looks cool Twilight." Spike said while the others gave a similar response. The only other person who hadn't said anything was Speed, who was too busy trying not to laugh out loud. And because of that, received an elbow to the stomach by AJ.

"Oww….. Ok not bad. But I prefer my own wheels, thank you very much." Speed said and proceeded to run in place. Suddenly Opalescence, Rarity's cat, jumped on the back of one of the mources (yes, we're rolling with this name for now). It panicked and kicked the cat off and ran off along with the rest of them.

"Come back!" Fluttershy called after them.

"Great. How are we supposed to pull the carriage? How are we going to get to the gala?" Twilight asked. Rarity gained a smug expression as she walked over to a group of stallions. After a couple,of seconds and a sly look from Rarity, a pair of stallions started pulling the cart.

"Oh, right." an embarrassed Twilight said.

_Inside Carousel Boutique…_

Speed's day has gone from bad to worst. Now he was stuck in a machine meant of grooming hair and his quills were being pulled.

"And why am _I _in this again? It's feels like my quills are getting ripped out!" Speed complained. He was about to take it off before Rarity shut it back on him.

"Because, pony or not, one can never be too prepared. And I still have to make your tuxedo and your pants because _someone_ didn't want to stay still." Rarity stated while Speed groaned.

"Rarity, I've lived my whole life running! How can you expect me to actually stay still?" Speed asked.

"Like a civilized hedgehog that's how. Ugh, I mean not even Rainbow Dash was this difficult." Rarity complained.

"I resent that!" Rainbow said from underneath a machine. Speed just sighed and sat there, trying to resist the agonizing pain.

_Moments later…_

Man, was Speed hating this. Now, after what felt like years under that machine, was forced to be a statue. No, literary. He was trying to move around but Twilight was holding him down with her magic and Applejack tied him down using a rope and Fluttershy was staring at him. For some reason, her stare was enough to get him to stop. After being tortured, erm, measured, he was forced to try on tux after tux until finally…

"So you promise this is the last one?" Speed asked from behind a changing room door.

"If it fits you just fine then yes. And if it doesn't well, we still got another 50 in stock." Rarity answered. Speed sighed as a zipping noise could be heard.

"Well, let's get this over with." Speed said as he stepped out of the room. The girls gasped at his appearance. He wore a suit jacket instead of his regular leather one. A black shirt with a green and silver bowtie. His normal jeans were replaced with black slacks and he wore black dress shoes. The whole gang silent. Suddenly, Fluttershy's wings fully extended and she fainted. Applejack pulled off her hat and began to fan herself while a part of Pinkie's hair stuck straight up.

"Wow. You look awesome Speed!" Rainbow complemented.

"Not just awesome, fabulous! I dare say if you were a pony instead of a hedgehog you would've stole my heart! This is my best work yet!" Rarity squealed.

"Yeah, it looks really nice!" Twilight said.

"Gee, guys stop it! You're making blush!" Speed said while rubbing the back of his head. Then Spike coughed loudly, gaining everyone's attention.

"Well, when you're all done fawning over Speed, we should probably get going. Look at the sun!" Spike pointed out. The others looked outside and saw the sun about to set. The others gasped at this.

"Oh no! Ok, Speed and Spike, out!" Rarity shouted as she used her magic to toss the two of them out of the room. She slammed the door and resumed to get ready along with others.

_Even MORE moments later…_

After a few moments, the seven were on their way to the Gala. Spike, in his tuxedo was piloting the carriage. The girls were inside, chatting about how they were going to spend their night. And Speed(reluctantly) was flying above them because as Rarity stated: 'I will not have one of my finest masterpieces be ruined because of your _impatience_!'. Speed was really starting to regret coming tonight. That and he couldn't shake this feeling of dread. Like, something terrible was going to happen, and he wouldn't be able to stop it. He shook his head at this. Nothing was going to go wrong, he and his friends would simply have a good time at the Gala and then go back home with a smile on their faces. And yet...he still couldn't help but worry.

_After a few hours..._

"We're here!" Spike called out. Speed snapped his head up at this. During the flight, he got so tired, he flew asleep. He looked around and saw the castle and other carriages. Spike was right, they were here! He landed as he saw Spike escort all the girls out of the carriage. His and Spike's mouths dropped when they stepped out the carriage. Gourgous couldn't begin to describe how they looked.

"Wow...just wow." was all Speed could say. The girls giggled at his response. Then they all looked towards the castle.

"Can you believe it? We're actually here! We are actually here at the Grand Galloping Gala!" Twilight exclaimed.

**Play-At the Gala**

_**At the Gala**_

_**At the Gala-**_

"Nope! Nope,nope,nope,nope!" Speed shouted as he plugged his ears and flew into the castle. He had been around for more than one of their sudden breaks into a musical number. And the best part is? Anyone who was around would join in! He was not going to be dragged into it this time. When he reached the ballroom he stopped in his tracks. It was like nothing he's ever seen before, probably due to the fact he's never been to a dance before. At least, he thinks he hasn't?

"Speed? Is that you?" a voice called out from behind him. He smiled as he turned around and saw Celestia trot towards him. "I thought you were going to sit this one out. Given your rash nature and all."

"Yeah well, it is my 2nd big social event and I figured that I should try and enjoy it. Plus, my friends would've probably kiddnapped me or something if I didn't come." Speed explained. "Speaking of which, where's Luna? I thought she was gonna be here tonight."

"Well, she still hasn't gotten used to being around other ponies due to the whole 'Nightmare Moon' incident. I keep telling her it's fine but she insisted on not coming tonight." Celestia told him.

"Aww, bummer. I think she would've enjoyed tonight. This would've helped her get used to having others around her again." Speed said.

"Well where are your friends at Speed? I thought you came with them tonight?" Celestia wondered. Speed pointed the way he came.

"Outside. The moment we got here, they started to sing and _I _for one would not want to be caught up in that. I've already heard one musical number after another ever since I got here." Speed answered.

"Alright then. Well, I am going to greet them at the door. You have a nice night!" Celestia said.

"Same to you Celelstia. See ya around!" Speed said as she parted through the crowd.

"Hey there!" another voice called from behind him. He turned and saw a pony he'd never seen before. She was wearing a blue jumpsuit with a yellow lightning bolt on it. She wore goggles on her head and had an orange, fiery mane with bright yellow fur and orange eyes.

"Hello, and you are?" Speed asked as he held his hand out. The mare took his hand and shook it.

"Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts. And you're Speed right? The hedgehog?" she greeted. He smirked.

"The one and only!" he said proudly.

"Good to meet ya'. Hey, come walk with me for a bit." she requested as she started to walk away. He followed behind, curious about what she wants. Finally they arrived in a part of the garden where other ponies sat around. He saw an apple stand in the distance with a determined looking AJ And Rarity sitting on the ground while another pony, who he assumed to be Prince Blueblood, sat on a pillow.

"So what do you want?" Speed asked.

"Celestia said you're from another planet or even another dimension. Is that true?" she asked. He nodded his head. She cheered. "Wow. So she wasn't joking. And she also says you're pretty fast. Is that true too?" Once again, he nodded his head. She smirked at this. "How fast _are_ you?"

"Well, as far as I know, faster than anything on this planet. Not saying it doesn't have anything _fast _on it. Just not fast enough to keep up with me." he answered confidently. Spitfire began to laugh at this. "What I'm serious! Nothing here has come close to matching my speed!" she then stopped laughing and smirked.

"Well if that's true, then,you mind if we had a little race do ya'?" she asked. Speed looked at her before smiling.

"Sure, I won't mind. But on one condition, the loser has to buy something from that apple stand over there. Deal?" he mentioned as he pointed to AJ's stand. Spitfire pondered this for a moment before smiling.

"Heh, deal!" she confidently said. They shook on it and got into starting positions. "Three laps around the garden. No cutting across, just one,big,circle. Got it?" She said. Speed gave a thumbs up. "Ok. On your mark. Get set…"

_Seconds later…_

Spitfire was grumbling something about how the grass got in her eye as she fished out bits and tossed them in a bucket for an apple.

"Thank you! Come again!" they heard AJ calling out as they walked away.

"Well, a deal's a deal. Here." she said as she handed him the apple.

"Oh, that? You could have it." Speed said. This dumbfound Spitfire. "I never said who the food goes to. Plus you need it more than I do. After all, you were almost keeping up with me so you need to regain your energy."

"Well if it's for me, then why did we bet in the first place? This basically me just buying something for myself." she asked.

"Because you weren't going to _buy _anything were you? Look the reason I did that was because I needed to help AJ. And since I was fresh out of bits, I figured that you could get food and she could get bits for her farm." he explained. She looked at the apple for a second before looking at the stand and saw a happy AJ. He was right, she would've never bought anything and instead would've just got some food that was terrible for her inside. She smiled before looking at Speed.

"Well next time, I'll make sure I win and lend you some bits so you can buy it yourself alright?" she said as she streched her hoof out. Speed responded by not shaking it but bumping his wrist against it.

"Yeah, good luck with that." Speed teased. At that moment they heard someone call Spitfire's name. They looked over and saw another pony with Spitfire's outifit but instead was a stallion with blue fur and a black mane,

"Well,looks like Soarin needs me. Hey, if you're ever in Cloudsdale, don't forget to stop by and say hi ya here?" she told him.

"Sure thing. And don't hesitate to ask for a rematch ok?" he said. She rolled her eyes at this.

"Ok, but don't forget you offered to get your butt handed." they both shared a laugh at this. "Alright, see ya around Speed!" she called out before flying towards her fellow Wonderbolt.

"See ya!" he yelled. He then turned around and walked back inside to see that the party was still going. Deciding that since he was bitless and hungry, he decided to go grab a bite from the food bar they had set up. As he was walking to a table, he noticed a certain sad, pink pony. Deciding that since no one else was around, he would go join her.

"Hey there Pinkie. What's got you down in frown town?" Speed joked around, but she seemed not to enjoy it. With a sigh, sat down in front of her. "Ok Pinkie, what's wrong? I thought you were excited to come to the gala?" he asked as he offered her a slice of cake. She reluctantly ate the slice and sighed.

"Oh Speed, it's just that well, it's so boring here! The musics boring, there's no good entertainment, and the food is hogged so I can barely get any." Pinkie complained. A stomach growl roared out before she sighed again. "I just don't know what to do. Maybe I should have stayed home and just-mmphh!" she exclaimed as a piece of cake was shoved in her mouth.

"NO, you dreamed of this night for so long. You can't just give up on it! If there's no party, then do what you do best!" he brung out a party hat and put it on her head. "Bring the party here!" she looked at him for a second before giving him a bonecrushing hug before putting him down and smiling.

"You're right! I can't just sit here and mope around all night! I'm Pinkie Pie darn it! And I swear on my name, I vow to make this the best night ever!" she announced. Although Speed swore he could've heard five other voices yell the same thing. Suddenly, that feeling of dread he felt earlier returned as he watch Pinkie leave and go towards the stage where the musicians were at.

_Great job Speed. You just screwed everyone over. _Asura thought.

_Hey, it could all work out! I mean, maybe Pinkie won't do anything that bad and-oh who am I kidding? Yeah Speed, you done goofed. _Spark thought.

_I, for one, an looking forward to this. _Inzane thought.

"Maybe we should leave…" Speed said as he left the table and went back outside. He decided to fly up onto a balcony. As he rested up there, he decided to look over the land from here. While looking he thought about how much of this planet he has yet to explore. And how many other creatures he has yet to meet. How this world works and how he'll adapt to it. He smiled at this, because of the fact that this was a whole new adventure for him and where this would take him.

"Speed?" a voice asked behind him. He looked behind and saw Luna, walking towards him with a sleeping cap that read 'Queen of the Night' with musical notes around it. It took him all of his will power to not to burst out laughing.

"Hey*snort*Luna. How are you*chuckle*doing?" he asked. She rolled her eyes at his desperate attemp at hiding tthe fact that her cap was so ironic.

"Speed, you don't have to hold back you know? Just go ahead and laugh at how silly it is." she said dejectedly. She then felt a hand on her head.

"It's not silly. It's just so funny how well that fits you is all." he said as he smiled at her. She blushed at his comment. "So, what you doing up here? Why aren't you downstairs enjoying the party?" he asked.

"Well, as much as I want to, I'm afraid that they will not accept me. Due to my previous actions as Nightmare Moon." she answered sadly.

"What makes you think that?" he asked,gaining her attention. "I mean, me and my friends accept you. So why wouldn't they?"

"Well these are Canterlot ponies and I fear that-"

"So is Twilight, but she accepts you. Look, there should be no reason that those ponies wouldn't accept you. They shouldn't be dwelling on the past anymore and should be focusing on the here and now. And if they can't let go of the past, well then that's their loss. And that shouldn't get you down when you have great friends like us and family like Celestia." Speed told her. How ever, when she didn't respond, he looked and saw her sniffling. Then in one fluid motion she grabbed him tight in the second bonecrushing hug he had received that night and began crying out loud.

"Thannnnkkkkk youuuuuuuu bwaaaaaaaa!" she cried while hugging him.

"You're. Welcome. Luna!" he managed to squeak out. She then saw what she was doing and put him down. She chuckled as she saw him gasping for air. "Man, I need to be prepared for that next time."

"Thank you Speed, for once again showing me that I am not alone and that I have all I need with you, your friends, and my sister." Luna told him.

"Heh. No problem Luna." he said. Suddenly, they both heard shouting from down below. Speed sighed and rubbed his head. "Well, that sounds like my cue. Have a good night Luna!" he told her before diving off.

"And you as well, Speed the Hedgehog. And you as well." Luna said back.

_Inside the ballroom…_

Well, now he knew why he was having this feeling of dread. As he flew in, he witnessed the moment right before everything went to Tarturus. Pinkie, bouncing around, collided with a golden statue of an alicorn, which tipped over and fell. Rainbow flew in just in time to stop the fall. However, the weight she was carrying was to much and caused her to move around with the statue and hit a pillar, which fell over and hit another one, and another one, and another one, and well, you where I'm going with this. Until, all the pillars fell around her. And to make things worst, the statue on her back spilt in half as well.

"Well, at least it couldn't get any worst." Twilight said. Speed looked at her and was about to,as you would say, 'go off' on her until a rumbling interuptted him. Suddenly, the doors to the garden slammed open and a bunch of animals ran inside, leaving a heaving and angry Fluttershy.

"You. Are going. To. LOVE ME!" she shouted with such ferocity that Speed wondered if that was the same Fluttershy. The animals ran into the ponies and started a panic. Ponies and animals both ran around in a craze. Speed saw Celestia next to Twilight and whispered something. Twilight whistled and the girls followed her. Speed, thinking fast, decided to follow them as well.

_At the donut shop…_

"No! I want another one, with sprinkles!" an angry Spike demanded. Suddenly, the Mane 6 plus Speed,bursted into the shop. They all sat down at a table while Speed stood there, looking at them.

"So, what happened? Did you have the best night ever?" Spike asked.

"Oh Spike, I got a feeling it was far from it." Speed laughed.

"Really? How so?" Spike asked

_One 'brief' explanation later…_

"Yikes. That sounded terrible. So, none of you had the best night ever? And you were so excited." Spike said sadly.

"Well, I wouldn't say that. I mean, I did get to hang out with the princess all night! That's just what I was hoping for. So I'm calling my night a success." Twilight.

"And I guess I did make some profits tonight off of my stand." Applejack tossed in.

"And I _did_ get to see some new and interesting animals." Fluttershy said.

"And I made the party so much fun too!" Pinkie cheered.

"I also did enjoy spending time with Blueblood, and then making him cry like a colt afterwards!" Rarity told them, which caused everyone to laugh.

"So I guess, in the end, you _did_ get your best night ever!" Speed stated.

"I just hope Princess Celestia isn't mad at us for ruining the Gala." Twilight said.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Celestia asked as she walked into the donut shop, shocking everyone inside. "You being here made this the best Gala ever!"

"Really?" Twilight asked. Celestia nodded.

"Yes, really. Pinkie Pie made it so much more interesting with her antics and Rarity, scaring off my nephew like that? I'm so glad someone finally put him in his place!" Celestia told them.

"Gee, thanks Princess Celestia!" Pinkie said sheepishly.

"It was quite the honor." Rarity said proudly.

"And those apples were delicious! Better than those fattening foods in the hall. And the face that advisor made when Rainbow flung him the air was priceless!" Celestia laughed.

"Glad you liked them." Applejack thanked.

"It's what I do best!" Rainbow proudly exclaimed.

"And how every pony acted when the animals came barging in? Makes me wish I had a camera." She said.

"Oh um...you're welcome?" Fluttershy said confused.

"And spending time with Twilight, it made me feel like a normal pony without any big respnsibilties. Thank you for that." Celestia said to her pupil. Twilight began rubbing the back of her head embarrassed.

"I was glad to help Princess." Twilight said. "Well, Speed was right. Even though our night didn't go exactly as we planned, we all were still able to have a great time. And now it's even better because now, we're spending it with each other." The others chimed in agreement.

"And Speed? How was your night? Did it go as you planned?" Celestia asked.

"Let's just say," Speed said as he winked at them. "It could've been worse."

_In a dark garden_

_Hmm, it seems as if all is going well for him right now. But he better be cautious or else he won't be prepared when his life starts to get a little…_

Suddenly, yellow eyes shined in the darkness.

_Chaotic…_

_To be continued in season 2…_

**Ladies and gentlemen! I just want to say thank you to everybody who stuck with the story to this point! You guys are reason I continue to write this! I also want to give a big shout out to the other authors who helped me out along the way!**

**QuintustheGodhog**

**Skylerhopeuniverse **

**Spyderbookworm**

**You guys are awesome authors! And I thank you for helping me out along the way! And thanks to all the reviews, negative or positive, for filling me with determination! And now, I give you all, the new trailer for my crossover coming soon!**

_In a bus heading to ?_

_Even though we've been here for weeks, I still can't afford to let my guard down. Not after what we went through last month. She doesn't see it, but I do. The signs. The signs that one day, he will return and ruin our lives. So I can't let anyone get close to me. I have to remember what it told me. The one piece of advice that could keep us alive. The one piece of advise that had I listened to, we wouldn't be here._

_TRUST._

_NO._

_ONE._

…

_I told him I was fine. I told him that he didn't need to worry about me. But obviously I was lying. I keep seeing him now. He shows up in my dreams for just a second, but a second is all it takes for me to understand. He was coming back, and he was coming for me. It was gonna be soon. I don't know where. I don't know when. But I know it will be soon. So until then, I have to keep lying. I have to show that I'm fine so they don't get involved. I just need to keep doing what I've doing for last nine years. _

_Carpe Diem. _

**You should know what crossover I'm doing by this. But if you don't know, and if you want to find out, stick around for my new crossover story,**

_**The Halfheart and the Pinetree**_

**I hope you enjoyed the season one finale of Element of Freedom and the trailer for The Halfheart and the Pinetree. If you did please Review, Follow, and Favorite and as always,**

_**This is Speed the Hedgehog**_

_**SIGNING OFF!**_


	16. Chapter 16

**The Return of Friendship Part 1**

_Canterlot_

_Why do I agree to do these things? _Speed thought to himself. He was currently hovering over a group of colts and fillies who were staring at him. They were supposed to listen to their teacher Ms. Cheerilee. But as soon as Speed showed up, they swarmed him and tried to drag him down to inspect him like some sort of science project. Me. Cheerilee then decided to clear her throat out loud of gain everypony's attention. She had a stern look on her face, scaring the ponies.

"If you all would be so kindly as to leave our guest alone and pay attention on what we came here for, that would be swell." she said with a forced smile. The fillies and colts immediately dashed over to the teacher and they proceeded onwards with their field trip. But right when Speed was about to follow the class, he felt a strange presence.

_It's just like when I felt Asura only, it's a lot more malevolent. _Speed thought to himself. _Is there an emerald nearby? How could there be? I was here last time and nothing gave off an aura like this before. Hmm…_ Speed pondered on this until he heard a group of fillies arguing and yelling at each other. He flew over and used his wind to separate them,

"Thank you Speed. Now girls, all of you are correct. But this statue is most of the time used as a symbol of chaos. Discord the draconequus was a being with the ability to warp reality. He could make clouds turn pink, the ground bouncy, anything you could think of he could do it." Cheerilee told them.

"That's sounds fun!" an orange pegasus filly exclaimed.

"Yes this sounds like fun, but this also threw the world off balance and it started to ruin lives of it's inhabitants. Only with the elements of harmony was Princess Celestia and Luna were they able to defeat him. And now he is trapped in a stony slumber, never to be heard from again. But legend has it that anypony near the statue Is filled with a sudden desire to create chaos, so don't touch it!" Cheerilee yelled at the orange filly reaching to touch it, making her back away sheepishly. "Now, if you look over here.." Cheerilee and the group moved along to another statue. Except Speed stayed behind and observed the statue. He had an uneasy feeling about it.

_Man, I would've loved to meet this guy, He sounds fun! _Inzane commented from inside Speeds mind. Speed sighed and was about to fly away from it when he sensed that dark presence again. He turned around and glared at the statue, but nothing changed. He growled and flew away from it, but had he stuck around for a few more seconds and observed more carefully, he would've saw the statue crack and emit a chuckle, and a black emerald under the statue's tail…

_Ponyville_

_Sigh...i'm bored guys, what should we do today? _Speed asked in his mind.

_How about training? _Asura suggested.

_Hmm...maybe, anyone else? _Speed asked.

_Maybe we could go race against RD again!_ Spark excitedly suggested.

_And put the ponies in danger like last time? No thanks. _Speed told him.

_How about we dodge the cotton candy cloud heading right for us? _Inzane told them. Speed looked behind him and saw a pink cloud fly right towards him. He pulled out his sword and cut it to pieces.

"What the heck? Since when were that cotton candy clouds?" Speed asked but couldn't dwell on it as more clouds headed right towards him. He cut them into tiny pieces and looked around for more. But as he looked around he noticed the pieces of the clouds started floating and flew upwards. They all swarmed together and started making a massive cloud.

_These aren't the only ones! _Asura shouted as more clouds flew in towards the currently growing one.

"Whats going on with the weather today!?" Speed asked in astonishment. He flew up and launched blades of air at the cloud, but any hole it made was sealed up instantly.

"Ok then...Asura!" Speed yelled as he transformed into the red hedgehog. He grew his six arms and got closer to the cloud.

"Eat this!" Asura yelled as he released a barrage of punches on the cloud and made massive holes in it. But to his dismay they sealed up instantly. He tried again, making more holes than last time, but the result was still the same. He launched fireballs at the cloud to burn it, but even those seemed ineffective.

"Tch, darn it. Spark!" he shouted as the yellow hedgehog appeared in place of Asura. He pulled out his daggers and flew around at high speeds and cut it. And like before, it proved no use.

"Man, nothing is working!" Spark exclaimed.

_Hmph, Maybe you should let me have a crack at it. _Inzane chuckled. Speed ignored him and focused.

"I got it!" Speed exclaimed as he turned back to normal. He flew around the cloud at high speeds and started to create a mini-tornado. The cotton candy cloud started to get ripped apart as Speed whipped out his sword as he flew. The pieces scattered into the tornado and couldn't form back together.

"Get lost!" Speed yelled as he used his sword to hook his tornado and fling it somewhere very far. He sighed in exhaustion and floated down to the ground.

_Well that was harder than expected. _Inzane remarked.

"Shut...up…" Speed gasped. He heard the sounds of ponies trotting and it sounded like it was coming right towards him. He looked up to find the Mane 6 and Spike running towards him.

"Oh my gosh, Speed are you ok? Are any bones broken, do you need some mexicine, how many hooves am I holding up?" Fluttershy asked in a panic. Twilight placed a hoof on her to snap her out of it. She suddenly became very self-concious and very shyly trotted backwards. Speed chuckled before he stood up and stretched.

"So how did things go on your end?" Speed asked.

"We managed to clear the cotton candy clouds and return all the wildlife back to normal." Twilight told him.

"I want a cotton candy cloud…" Pinkie sighed. Twilight rolled her eyes as she surveyed the area. There were chocolate puddles around the place and some houses were covered with pink sugar but otherwise the town was fine.

"What was the cause of all of this anyways? Cuz other than Pinkie, I don't know any other pony who could've done this." RD questioned.

"Maybe it was Trixie enacting a plan of revenge?" Rarity asked, still holding her umbrella just in case.

"It couldn't be her, she has too much of an ego to mess with us while hiding." Twilight deducted.

"It could've been that darn griffin again." AJ suggested.

"Please, Gilda knows better than to that to show her ugly mug around here again." Speed scowled at the thought of Gilda. They stood there and tried to come up with a suspect but couldn't think of anyone. Suddenly, Spike had burped up a letter with a red seal on it.

"Huh? A red seal? That's means…"

"Its urgent." Twlight finished for Spike as she took the letter out of his hand and opened it. She read the letter over and closed it with a serious look on her face. "We need to head to Canterlot immediately. Celestia might know the cause of all of this." Twilight announced to the group. They all looked at each other and nodded as they took off towards Canterlot, except Speed was standing there and thinking to himself. The weird aura those clouds gave off…

Why did he feel like he's felt it before?

_Canterlot…_

The group hurried to the castle to meet with Celestia and bursted through the doors.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight cried out as they stood at the base of a set of stairs. They heard cloping coming down the stairs and bowed as Celestia came down the stairs. She smiled at them through tired mosaics on the walls, which a had various images of creatures and ponies.

"Princess, what's going on? Why are cotton candy clouds and mutated animals popping up outta nowhere?" Twilight asked in confusion. Celestia gained a weary look as she stared at the colorful glass mosaics.

"Years ago, there was a strange creature made from various animal parts and loved causing chaos. At first the chaos he caused was only slightly annoying, but as time went on, it got worse and worse. Houses were being turned upside down, gallons of chocolate milk had occupied the streets instead of ponies. The sky was turned pink and the ground was turned into a checkerboard. Thats only a few things this chaotic being caused. Had me and my sister not stopped him, our world would be lost in chaos." Celestia somberly told them as she remembered the struggle they went through back then

"Celestia...who did this?" Speed asked. She turned and pointed at one of the mosaics which depicted a creature with various body parts from different animals. Speed's eyes widened as he realized he's seen that creature before.

"His name is Discord, and he is the cause of all of this chaos. He has been freed from his prison by some sort of mysterious power. And now he's free to cause chaos all over this world. And if we don't stop him, he'll throw this world's balance off and end up destroying it." Celestia told them, causing them all to gasp.

"H-how do we stop him?" Fluttershy stuttered as she cowered away from the mosaic and hid behind Speed. Celestia walked over a walls and channeled magic into her horn as a section in the wall started to glow as well. It opened up to reveal a secret compartment which had a jewel encrusted box with a sun symbol on top of it with a lock.

"The same way you stopped my sister and freed her from her nightmare, by using your elements of harmony to trap Discord back inside his stone prison!" Celestia told them as she opened the box to reveal…

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing in the box. Everyone in the group gasped, causing Celestia to look inside the box and drop it in shock.

"T-the elements, they're gone!" Rarity yelled as she fainted dramatically. Celestia had a panicked look on her face as she realized that they were stolen.

"I-i don't understand! Who could've-!"

"Hehehe, well I'm pretty sure that obvious Princess, don't you think?" a new and mischievous voice rang out. Everyone looked around and searched for the owner of the new voice.

"Everyone, look!" RD pointed at one of the mosaics with Discord on it as it flashed and the mosaic started moving. It flew into other mosaics and stopped by the one closest to Celestia. She glared at the mosaic while it laughed.

"Oh Celestia, it's so nice to see you! How many years has it been? 100? 200? Oh well that doesn't matter, it's just so nice to see you! And I see that you've made some new friends too, how wonderful…" Discord said that last part with malice as his eyes on the mosaic glowed.

"Move!" Celestia yelled at the group as she stood in front of them and made a barrier. Speed, thinking quickly, used his wind to push himself and everyone out of the way. They all watched in horror as the laser beam pierced through the barrier and went through Celestia's body. She fell back to the ground and groaned in pain.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight cried out as she ran to her mentor. There wasn't any blood or injury, but something was clearly wrong. Then they all gasped in horror as they realized that her body was slowly turning to stone from her hooves up.

"Drat, and here I was hoping for a collateral. Oh well, I guess this'll do for now." Discord chuckled. Twilight had tears in her eyes as she looked up at Discord with rage in her eyes. They flashed red for a second which startled everyone,

"I'm going to make you pay!" Twilight yelled as she shot a red beam out of her horn instead of a purple one. Discord moved to another mosaic as the beam burned a hole straight through the one he was previously in.

"Interesting...very interesting hehehe." Discord chuckled as he dodged another beam shot by Twilight.

"Twilight, enough!" Speed yelled at her, startling her for a second before the red glow left her horn. She sighed as she calmed down.

"T-twlight…" Celestia coughed out as her body was now halfway stone. Twilight rushed over to her mentor immediately. "You...have to find...the elements. Its the only way to beat him…" Celestia told her.

"B-but princess, what about you?" Twilight asked as tears were running down her face. Celestia cracked a smile.

"Don't worry about me Twilight. I've been through much worse than this. But you need to focus on finding the elements or else he'll destroy the world." Celestia told her as the stone made it to her wings.

"B-but…" Twilight stuttered as the stone was creeping closer. Celestia touched her forehead with Twilight's with a lot of effort.

"I believe in you Twilight." Celestia told her as the stone made it to her neck. "You are my number one pupil after all…" and with that, the princess layed her head down as she closed her eyes and smiled as the stone finally over took her, but not before she shot a little bit of magic out of her horn towards Twilight. It connected with her and a yellow glow emitted from her before dying down. After the glow faded, Twilight cried over her teacher as the others cried behind her as well while Speed just glared at Discord.

"You're gonna pay for this Discord." Speed told him as he pulled out his sword and floated up towards the mosaic, getting eye level with it. Discord chuckled as he glared at Speed.

"Bring it, rat." Discord said as he laughed maniacally while flying back to his original mosaic. Speed floated back down to his friends as they tried to stop crying. He walked over to Twilight and placed a hand on her side. She looked up at him through red, puffy eyes and nodded.

"I know...I know what we have to do. She wouldn't want me standing here all day crying. She would want me out there trying to stop Discord wouldn't she?" Twilight asked as she dried up her eyes. Speed smiled and nodded. She wiped her eyes and got a determined look on her face. She turned to her friends and was that while their eyes were the same as hers, they had the same look she had. Even Fluttershy had a little more determination in her eyes.

"Alright girls, no more crying, we got tail to whoop!" RD said as she started flying and pounded her fists together.

"Indeed, I say we make him pay for hurting the princess and messing with our world." Rarity told them.

"No arguin' there. Someone's gotta get what's comin' to them." AJ agreed.

"I say we make him drink chocolate milk with hot sauce in it!" Pinkie said as she suddenly whipped out a bottle of chocolate milk and a bottle of hot sauce.

"I umm...don't necessarily like fighting or violence, but bullies like him need to face the consequences!" Fluttershy shyly yelled.

"Then let's get going. We gotta find those seven elements-"

"Six." Speed corrected.

"Right, and elements-wait six? Does that mean…?" Twilight trailed off as Speed rolled up his jacket sleeve and showed that he was wearing his element of harmony.

"Good going Speed! Now we just need to find the other six and we can beat him!" Twilight exclaimed happily. But then her ears drooped. "But we don't know where he hid them…" Twilight realized.

"Maybe this poem will help?" Pinkie said as she fished out a piece of paper with some writing on it. Twilight took it out of her hooves and stared at her.

"Where did you get this Pinkie?" Twilight asked a bit ticked off.

"Oh, Discord gave it to me when you guys weren't looking." she answered happy as ever. Twilight breathed in and out as she forced a smile on her face.

"Well this leads us one step closer to finding the elements!" Twilight cheered.

"But what if Discord tries to stop us while we're looking for them?" Rarity asked.

"I'll distract him." Speed told them as he started floating. They all looked at him in shock. "I'll keep him busy while you guys search for the elements. That way you guys won't have to worry about him stopping you guys."

"B-but Speed, how do you know he's gonna even show up to fight you? What if he ignores you and goes straight for us?" Fluttershy asked worried.

"I know he'll show up for me. I can't explain how I know, I just know." Speed said clutching his heart. Twilight looked at Speed worried about the other hedgehog inside him. She felt as if him and Discord would get along really fine, and that was a scary thought. But still…

"It you get hurt doing this, that's your fault you know." RD said unconcerned. Everyone looked at her in shock, making her look at the others in confusion. "What? I'm just saying that if he's so confident that he hold him off, then let him." RD said while smirking while Speed smiled. That's when Twilight understood why RD was so fine with this. She was confident in Speed's power that she didn't need to be worried.

"Heh, I get ya'. You better not use your injuries as excuses to not work, otherwise I'm cutting off your supply of apple pies." AJ threatened with a smile. Speed sweatdropped.

"That's cruel AJ, but yeah I understand." Speed smiled.

"And you do know that if your clothes get ripped, you come straight to me to get them fixed, understand?" Rarity reminded him, but that sounded more like a threat.

"S-sure Rarity...hehehe…" Speed nervously said as he remembered the amount of times his clothes got ripped in the past without her knowing.

"Let's all throw a celebration party when this is all over ok? My fun meter has been pretty low." Pinkie suggested to everyone.

"Agreed." Speed said as he nodded with Everyone. Fluttershy walked up next to everyone and looked at Speed with worried eyes.

"P-please be safe Speed…" Fluttershy nervously said.

"Of course I will Flutters." he told her confidently which got her to smile.

"Alright then, everyone. Let's get to work!" Twilight exclaimed as the others yelled with her. The ponies went out the door towards the courtyard while Speed flew off towards Ponyville, he didn't know why, but he just knew he would be there. But once they all left the room, Discord had reappeared in the mosaic and hopped out of it and landed gently.

"Hmm...fight the hedgehog, or mess with the ponies? Hmm..oh I know!" Discord said as she ripped himself in half before the two halves grew their own bodies as they both smirked and their eyes glowed.

"How about both…"

**And with that folks, part 1 is done! This took way too long to get out but I'm glad I was able to. It looks like Speed and his friends are in for a little surprise next time. And they'll finally get to see what hate looks like incarnate...but until then I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and if you did be sure to Review, Favorite, and Follow. And until next time, this is Speed the Hedgehog**

_**SIGNING OFF!**_


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